THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE  KITE  TRUST 

(A  Romance  of  Wealth) 


LEBBEUS  HARDING  ROGERS 


KITE  TRUST  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

75    MAIDEN    LANE 
NEW  YORK  CITY 


IT  IS  APPALLING   HOW   VERY   LITTLE   PRACTICAL 
BUSINESS  EXPERIENCE IF  ANY IS  POS- 
SESSED BY  THE  VAST  MAJORITY  OF 
THOSE   WHO  ASSUME  TO  REG- 
ULATE COMMERCIAL 
AFFAIRS. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    Micky  Flynn I 

II.    Fred  Schmidt 7 

III.  Sam  Forbes 13 

IV.  Ed  Webster 19 

V.    Flynn  &  Schmidt 28 

VI.    Kites 35 

VII.    A  Fair  Beginning 43 

VIII.    Business   Booms 51 

IX.    Labor 58 

X.    Prospering .' 65 

XL    A  Great  Law  Office 73 

XII.    Genius 80 

XIII.  The  Three  Kingdoms 88 

XIV.  Capital 96 

XV.    The  Silver  Question 105 

XVI.    Wealth 118 

XVII.    Blavatsky 127 

XVIII.    The  Iron  Standard 138 

XIX.    Brick  Standard 144 

XX.    Check   Standard 150 

XXI.    The  Art  Standard 155 

XXII.    Taxes 163 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXIII.    Revenue 176 

XXW.    National  Debts 185 

XXV.    Protection 194 

XXVI.    Business  Quarrels 220 

XXVII.    Economy 228 

XXVIII.    Damages 236 

XXIX.    Travel 247 

XXX.    Progression 264 

XXXI.    Money 270 

XXXII.    Banking 292 

XXXIII.  Education 309 

XXXIV.  Madame  Guyon 317 

XXXV.    Nationality 331 

XXXVI.    Strikes 342 

XXXVII.    Speculations  .  . .' 348 

XXXVIII.    Commerce 355 

XXXIX.    Leap  Year  373 

XL.    Cagliostro 382 

XLI.    Clearing  House 393 

XLII.    Plunging 409 

XLIII,    Crcesus  Paled 417 

XLIV.    Trusts ' 427 

XLV.    Billionaires 450 

XLVI.    The  People 465 


CHAPTER  I. 

MICKY    FLYNN. 

ON  the  29th  day  of  February  at  three  o'clock  A.M. 
Micky  Flynn  was  born  in  Hamilton,  Hamilton  County, 
O.,  and  as  it  was  generally  considered  a  good  State  to 
come  from  he  did  not  offer  the  slightest  objection. 
Later  he  lived  in  the  village  of  Utica,  near  Pittsburg, 
Pa.,  where  he  learned  to  swim,  swear,  swop,  and  swag- 
ger to  the  same  degree  of  proficiency  that  was  cus- 
tomary with  the  small  boy  of  that  locality.  He  went 
to  the  public  school,  and  was  at  the  foot  of  his  class  in 
geography,  spelling,  and  reading,  but  when  it  came  to 
arithmetic  he  was  the  first  boy  in  the  room.  He  did 
not  see  the  use  of  history  or  any  study  excepting  fig- 
ures, and  his  teacher  could  not  hammer  other  things 
into  his  head. 

Micky's  father  was  baptized  Patrick,  and  Pat  Flynn 
was  known  as  a  pretty  hard  character;  but  he  was  a 
good  worker  and  had  a  steady  job  as  a  track  hand  on 
the  railroad.  Patrick  did  not  care  for  ancestry,  and 
never  bothered  himself  or  any  one  else  as  to  who  was 
his  grandfather  or  great-grandfather;  all  he  knew 
about  it  was  that  he  himself  was  an  Irishman,  and  that 
was  pride  sufficient  for  him,  with  the  exception  that  he 


2  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

had  an  idea  that  he,  with  all  the  rest  of  his  race,  were 
descended  from  the  father  of  St.  Patrick,  that  being 
glory  enough  for  any  mortal.  So  he  folded  his  hands 
and  rested  content,  not  caring  who  were  kings  and 
princes ;  all  he  wanted  in  addition  to  something  to  eat, 
drink,  and  wear  was  to  be  able  to  smoke  his  clay  pipe 
in  peace  after  his  usual  evening  quarrel  with  his  wife. 
But  his  son  Micky  was  rather  of  a  commercial  turn  of 
mind,  forever  amazing  his  father  and  mother  with  his 
conversation  regarding  figures  of  high  degree ;  he 
seemed  to  know  the  names  of  all  the  people  of  the 
country  who  were  worth  a  million  dollars;  and  when 
his  father  or  mother  was  not  giving  Micky  a  whipping 
they  were  wondering  what  kind  of  a  man  he  would 
make.  Between  themselves  they  had  a  sort  of  awe  for 
the  figure-smartness  of  their  only  boy. 

A  foreshadowing  incident  of  Micky's  future  oc- 
curred when  he  was  nine  years  of  age.  The  Demo- 
cratic County  Convention  was  to  meet  in  Utica,  and 
Micky  thought  it  was  the  occasion  for  him  to  make 
money.  It  was  the  first  time  that  any  large  delegation 
of  men  had  met  in  the  village  since  he  lived  there,  and 
it  was  the  talk  among  the  boys  as  much  as  it  would 
be  with  the  young  people  of  New  York  City,  Chicago, 
or  London  if  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  strangers 
were  going  to  assemble  with  them  at  one  time. 

Micky  had  earned  sixty  cents  the  month  before,  and 
thought  he  would  go  into  some  commercial  enterprise 
for  gain;  and  at  last,  without  consulting  any  one,  he 
decided  on  the  lemonade  business.  So,  borrowing  a 
crock  and  ladle,  a  table  and  table-cover,  and  a  dozen 
tumblers,  and  investing  his  sixty  cents  in  lemons  and 
sugar,  he  was  up  bright  and  early  and  ready  at  the 
corner  of  the  main  street  waiting  for  the  convention  to 
meet. 

The  assembly  occupied  the  concert  hall  near  the  lem- 
onade stand,  and  the  members  passed  backward  and 


MICKY    FLYNN.  3 

forward,  but  for  several  hours  Micky  did  not  have  a 
single  customer.  His  only  admirers  and  would-be 
tipplers  were  about  forty  penniless  boys  and  girls  who 
crowded  around  his  stand,  looking  upon  him  with  envy 
and  awe.  Not  a  single  one  of  them  could  raise  five 
cents  to  buy  a  drink.  About  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon Micky  was  becoming  very  much  discouraged, 
and  about  to  give  up  in  despair  and  throw  his  lemonade 
into  the  gutter  or  divide  it  up  among  his  young  fellow- 
townsmen,  when  at  that  hour  a  company  of  nine  men 
from  the  convention  passed  by.  Seeing  a  lemonade 
stand,  they  made  some  bantering  remarks  about  lem- 
onade, with  the  result  that  a  glass  was  passed  to  each 
one  of  the  nine,  thus  bringing  to  Micky's  cash  box 
forty-five  cents.  That  was  the  only  sale  he  made  dur- 
ing the  entire  day,  and  when  the  evening  came  and  the 
convention  departed  the  discouraged  boy  was  fifteen 
cents  the  loser  by  his  investment;  he  was  able,  how- 
ever, to  sell  back  to  the  groceryman  the  remaining  un- 
cut lemons  for  sixteen  cents,  and  was  one  cent  ahead 
for  a  hard  and  anxious  day's  toil. 

That  night  when  Micky's  father  came  home  and 
heard  of  the  business  venture,  he  gave  him  a  good 
whipping  and  a  lecture,  and  charged  him  never  again 
to  bring  disgrace  upon  a  respectable  Irish  family  by 
selling  lemonade  at  a  Democratic  convention.  If  he 
wanted  to  sell  lemonade  and  make  money,  he  ought  to 
wait  until  the  Prohibition  Party  should  hold  their 
meeting  in  the  .town,  and  then  he  might  have  some 
chance  of  doing  business,  without  aspersing  a  great 
political  party,  as  in  this  present  case.  For  three  long 
weeks  Micky  nursed  his  wrath  and  disappointment, 
vowing  he  never  would  be  a  Democrat;  and  accord- 
ingly he  was  lost  to  that  party  forever. 

At  the  end  of  the  three  weeks  the  Prohibition  Con- 
vention met  in  Utica.  Micky  had  been  maturing  his 
plans  regarding  it  for  some  time,  and  determined  to 


4  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

profit  by  his  father's  politico-commercial  suggestion 
and  again  embark  in  the  lemonade  business.  With  the 
sixty-one  cents  he  had  left  from  his  first  venture  and 
$2  that  he  borrowed  from  his  mother  he  commenced 
on  the  night  before  the  convention  to  carry  out  his  well 
and  secretly  deliberated  plans.  He  went  around  to  the 
twelve  grocery  stores  in  the  village,  and  found  that  in 
the  whole  place  there  were  exactly  one  hundred  and 
ninety-eight  lemons.  After  this  canvass  he  returned 
home,  obtained  a  basket,  and  went  around  and  bought 
up  every  lemon  in  the  village  at  one  cent  each,  thus 
fixing  it  so  there  would'be  no  opposition  from  the  other 
boys  who  had  been  talking  over  the  same  idea  of  sell- 
ing lemonade. 

Bright  and  early  the  next  morning  he  was  at  the  ac- 
customed corner  with  his  lemonade  crock.  Prohibition 
customer  after  customer  came,  and  by  noon  he  had 
sold  over  fifty  glasses  of  lemonade  at  five  cents  each. 
His  young  friends,  seeing  his  success,  had  been  doing 
their  best  to  buy  lemons  in  the  village,  but  not  a  single 
one  could  be  obtained.  Micky  overheard  one  of  the 
boys  say  he  was  going  to  walk  down  to  the  village  of 
Dover,  three  miles  distant,  and  buy  some  lemons  there. 
Micky's  sister  Sally  was  standing  by,  and  after  the 
boys  had  started,  Micky  hailed  a  passing  wagon  going 
in  the  direction  of  Dover,  and  told  the  driver  he  would 
give  him  a  glass  of  lemonade  if  he  would  let  his  sister 
ride  down  quickly  to  that  village.  Micky  was  success- 
ful in  the  negotiation,  and  furnished  Sally  with  suffi- 
cient money  to  buy  out  the  entire  stock  of  lemons  of 
the  whole  town  of  Dover,  which  she  did,  amassing 
fifty-two  lemons,  all  that  were  in  the  place ;  then  she 
walked  back,  as  Micky  had  not  said  she  could  use  any 
of  the  money  for  a  return  ride.  The  disappointed  boys 
on  their  arrival  at  the  village  wanted  to  mob  Micky 
when  they  found  out  what  he  had  done,  but  he  told 
them  "  he'd  break  der  heads  if  dey  fooled  wid  him." 


MICKY    FLYNN.  5 

At  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  Micky  paid  his 
mother  back  her  $2,  and  at  the  end  of  the  day  had 
$11.15  from  the  sale  of  lemonade,  and  seventy-two 
lemons  left,  which  he  induced  the  grocerymen  to  take 
back  at  the  price  he  paid,  as  there  was  not  a  lemon  left 
in  the  stores,  and  a  considerable  demand. 

Sally,  who  had  been  helping  Micky  all  day,  buying 
sugar,  carrying  water,  and  other  sorts  of  work,  was 
delighted  at  the  rushing  business,  but  in  the  evening, 
when  she  found  that  her  brother  had  made  so  much 
money,  she  demanded  a  dollar  to  buy  a  doll.  Micky 
almost  fainted  and  looked  at  her  in  perfect  astonish- 
ment, and  said  he  would  do  nothing  of  the  kind,  and 
upbraided  her  for  such  high  and  extravagant  notions. 
Then  Sally  flew  into  a  mad  fit  and  threatened  all  sorts 
of  things,  and  Micky,  to  make  it  all  right,  offered  her 
ten  cents,  which  she  would  not  take,  and  she  com- 
menced to  cry  and  called  him  mean  and  stingy.  She 
said  she  wanted  a  dollar  or  nothing,  as  she  had  helped 
him  all  day  and  walked  back  from  Dover  through  the 
heat,  and  he  ought  to  give  her  a  dollar  for  the  doll. 
But  Micky  to  stop  her  crying  offered  her  twelve  cents, 
and  at  last  raised  the  amount  to  fifteen,  saying  he 
would  not  give  a  cent  more,  and  placed  it  in  her  hand 
much  against  her  will. 

Sally  was  mad,  and  in  anger  threw  the  whole  fif- 
teen cents  at  him  with  all  her  strength.  The  pennies 
scattered  over  the  grass  in  every  direction.  Micky 
spent  nearly  forty  minutes  hunting  for  them,  and  by 
the  time  it  grew  dark  had  found  all  but  one.  The  next 
morning  he  was  up  before  four  o'clock  and  hunted  an 
hour  and  ten  minutes  for  that  one  cent,  at  last  finding 
it  over  near  the  fence  corner.  When  Micky's  mother 
heard  of  his  treatment  of  his  sister  she  gave  a  sigh, 
and  said  it  was  "  jist  loike  all  the  men  folk's  treatment 
uv  der  wimmen  folks"  and  that  Micky  was  stingy  and 
mean  enough  to  get  to  be  a  rich  man. 


6  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

Micky's  mercantile  fame  spread  throughout  the 
village,  not  only  among  the  children,  but  the  grown 
people,  and  one  gentleman  met  him  on  the  street  and 
said  to  him  that  he  had  heard  he  had  made  a  "  corner" 
on  lemons.  Micky  disclaimed  all  knowledge  of  any 
real-estate  transaction  or  of  having  any  corner  lots, 
and  did  not  understand  the  word  "corner,"  but  gradu- 
ally it  entered  his  head  that  a  "  corner"  among  business 
men  meant  a  man's  buying  up  everything  of  one  par- 
ticular line  of  goods,  so  that  no  person  else  could  buy 
any  of  the  same  kind,  except  by  coming  to  him  for  it. 

At  the  end  of  that  year  Micky's  father  died,  and 
Mrs.  Flynn  moved,  with  her  two  children,  to  Cincin- 
nati, where  her  widowed  sister  was  residing,  and 
settling  in  that  humble  portion  of  the  city  called  Buck- 
town,  she  started  in  at  washing  to  earn  a  living  for 
her  little  family. 


CHAPTER    II. 

FRED    SCHMIDT. 

FRED  SCHMIDT  lived  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village 
of  Lotus,  near  Springfield,  O.,  where  he  was  born  on 
the  29th  day  of  February,  at  three  o'clock  A.M. 

Summers-time  had  come ;  schooldays  were  over,  and 
Fred  was  asked  by  Mrs.  Carleton,  of  the  village,  if  he 
would  look  after  her  horse  while  she  and  her  maiden 
daughter  were  away  for  the  months  of  July  and 
August.  Fred  answered  "yes"  so. promptly  that  it 
almost  startled  .the  good  old  lady. 

The  horse,  whose  name  was  Jupiter,  was  nothing  to 
brag  of  for  style,  speed,  or  age.  He  was  blind  in  one 
eye  and  could  not  see  out  of  the  other.  He  was  at 
least  twenty-two  years  old,  but  still  had  ambition  and 
strength  to  keep  up  his  old  jog-trot  that  for  the  last  ten 
years  was  as  steady  and  as  measured  and  as  rickety 
as  the  strokes  of  the  old  ramshackle  pump  that  day 
and  night  raised  water  at  the  railroad  station. 

Mrs.  Carleton's  ancient  victoria  was  a  match  for  the 
ancient  horse;  the  antique,  rusty  harness  was  a  match 
for  the  ancient  victoria ;  Mrs.  Carleton  and  her  daugh- 
ter were  a  match  for  the  rest  of  the  ancient  outfit ;  and 
her  old  and  faithful  man-servant,  when  seated  on  the 


8  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

box  and  driving,  completed  a  picture  that  would  have 
been  a  lingering  dream  for  the  world's  most  talented 
caricaturist. 

Mrs.  Carleton  told  Fred  that  for  his  pay  for  looking 
after  her  stable  she  would  give  him  the  pleasure  of 
exercising  the  horse  every  day  with  the  exception  of 
Sunday.  She  was  a  strict  Presbyterian,  and  had  never 
been  known  to  ride  on  the  Sabbath.  The  horse  knew 
when  the  Lord's  day  morning  arrived  as  well  as  Mrs. 
Carleton  herself,  as  he  had  never  been  known  to  see 
the  outside  of  the  stable  on  Sunday  since  he  was  two 
years  old,  when  he  entered  the  service  of  the  now 
lamented  Hon.  Jeremiah  Carleton,  who  once  repre- 
sented the  Lotus  district  in  Congress. 

Fred  waited  at  the  depot  for  the  family  to  arrive 
in  the  victoria.  He  saw  them  all  depart,  and  received 
the  key  to  the  barn  from  the  ancient  man-servant  as 
the  train  was  moving  toward  the  far-off  seashore. 

Fred  drove  the  victoria  back  to  the  deserted  home- 
stead, locked  the  establishment  in  the  stable,  and  then 
climbed  up  in  one  of  Mrs.  Carleton's  apple-trees  to 
meditate  on  the  great  responsibility  that  had  been  so 
suddenly  thrust  upon  him. 

Hay,  oats,  and  corn  for  Jupiter's  maintenance  had 
been  provided  by  Mrs.  Carleton,  and  were  safe  in  the 
barn.  The  only  other  necessity  Fred  could  now  think 
of  was  water,  so  he  slid  down  from  the  tree,  went  to 
the  cistern  and  satisfied  himself  entirely  on  that  point, 
for  it  was  nearly  filled  to  the  top. 

Climbing  again  into  the  tree,  he  hid  himself  among 
the  leaves,  and  first  eating  one  of  Mrs.  Carleton's 
green  apples,  he  next  continued  his  meditations  on  his 
summer's  future,  and  when  two  hours  had  thus  passed 
he  had  mapped  out  his  vacation's  course  and  came 
down  from  the  upper  branches  to  the  ground. 

He  had  been  told  by  Mrs.  Carleton  that  for  his  pay 
he  could  exercise  the  horse.  He  had  argued  to  himself 


FRED    SCHMIDT.  9 

that  as  no  particular  style  of  exercising  had  been  men- 
tioned, he  certainly  was  at  liberty  to  arrange  that  little 
matter  to  suit  himself.  He  never  before  had  had  at 
his  own  individual  disposal  the  whole  of  a  real  live 
horse,  and  such  an  opportunity  might  never  come 
again.  He  determined  to  make  some  money  and  to 
start  an  express  and  passenger  line  from  Lotus  down 
to  Springfield,  which  was  four  miles  distant ;  and  for 
that  purpose  he  would  utilize  Mrs.  Carleton's  two- 
seated  spring  wagon,  that  was  seldom  used,  and  was 
standing  in  good  condition  in  the  barn. 

Fred  wasted  no  time  in  the  matter,  and  by  two 
o'clock  that  afternoon  had  painted  on  cardboards  and 
posted  along  the  route  twenty  notices,  as  follows : 

FreD  SchMiDt 

wiLl  RuN  aN 

eXpreSs,  paSSenGeR  AnD  PacKaGe  buSineSs 

frOm 

LotUs  to  SpriNgFieLd 

eVerY  MorNinG  &  AfteRnOoN 

FarE  10  ceNtS  PacKaGeS  25  CenTs 

The  first  three  days  Fred  made  his  two  daily  trips 
to  Springfield  and  back  without  a  single  passenger  or 
a  package,  but  he  went  regularly  through  the  form  as 
faithfully  as  any  stage  or  mail  line  in  the  mountains  of 
the  far  West.  On  the  fourth  day  'he  had  one  customer 
— a  stranger — who  desired  to  ride  down  to  Spring- 
field. At  the  end  of  the  journey  he  refused  to  pay  the 
ten-cent  fare  demanded,  which  resulted  in  Fred  getting 
mad,  calling  a  policeman,  and  having  the  man  arrested. 
The  particulars  of  the  arrest  were  mentioned  in  the 
next  morning's  paper,  and  proved  a  good  advertise- 
ment for  Fred's  express  line,  which  resulted  in  his 
obtaining  passengers  and  packages  to  carry  backward 


10  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

and  forward,  and  at  the  end  of  July  he  had  made  and 
saved  $27.60. 

On  the  first  Sunday  morning  Fred  went  as  usual 
to  the  stable  to  harness  the  horse  for  the  day's  business, 
but  Jupiter  would  not  budge  an  inch.  Fred  coaxed 
him,  and  pushed  him,  and  then  used  the  whip;  but  to 
no  purpose,  for  the  old  "  steed"  proved  faithful  to  his 
religious  training,  and  gave  Fred  most  unmistakably 
to  understand  that  he  was  a  Presbyterian  horse  and 
observed  the  Fourth  Commandment.  ,  So  the  stage  line 
had  to  be  abandoned  on  Sundays,  which  gave  Fred 
time  to  count  and  recount  the  money  he  was  accumu- 
lating. 

Business  increased  during  August,  and  by  the  2ist 
he  had  added  $40.10  to  his  earnings,  making  a  total 
of  $67.70  on  hand. 

On  the"  last-mentioned  morning  Fred  was  thrown 
into  a  state  of  consternation  by  seeing  a  rival  express 
line  started  by  that  same  stranger  whom  he  had  had 
arrested  for  not  paying  his  fare.  The  newcomer  cut 
the  rates  to  five  cents  for  passengers  and  ten  cents  for 
packages,  and  announced  four  trips  per  day,  instead 
of  Fred's  two. 

Fred  immediately  reduced  his  price  to  correspond 
with  the  opposition,  and  at  four  o'clock  met  the 
stranger  in  Lotus  as  he  was  ending  his  third  trip.  He 
called  Fred  to  one  side  and  told  him  confidentially  that 
he  was  going  to  reduce  the  fare  the  next  day  to  three 
cents  and  packages  to  five,  but  that  if  Fred  would  buy 
his  horse  and  wagon  for  $75,  he  would  quit  the  busi- 
ness and  leave  the  field  free  and  clear  to  the  old  line. 

It  was  a  fine  horse  and  wagon,  and  Fred  saw  that 
it  was  cheap  at  the  price,  and  offered  $67,  which  was 
about  all  his  accumulated  capital.  The  purchase  was 
made,  the  money  paid,  and  Fred,  after  putting  Mrs. 
Carleton's  horse  and  wagon  in  the  stable,  started  on 
his  regular  trip  to  Springfield  in  his  new  rig.  He  was 


FRED    SCHMIDT.  II 

the  happiest  and  proudest  fellow  in  Ohio.  He  mused 
to  himself  that  he  owned  the  whole  "  bloomin'  outfit," 
and  commenced  to  dream  of  making  hundreds  of 
dollars  in  the  express  business,  and  by  the  time  he  had 
reached  Springfield  he  had  in  his  fancy  worked  his 
future  business  up  to  that  point  where  he  had  an 
imaginary  $1000  in  bank;  but  unfortunately  for  Fred, 
at  that  particular  point  in  his  dreamings  he  was 
arrested  for  having  a  stolen  horse  and  wagon  in  his 
possession. 

The  judge  heard  the  prisoner's  story,  but  discharged 
him  from  custody,  as  the  owner  of  the  stolen  property 
withdrew  his  complaint,  being  satisfied  to  get  back  his 
property. 

The  thief  was  never  found.  Fred  walked  back 
to  Lotus  with  a  boy's  tear  in  his  eye.  He  was  as 
thoroughly  mad  as  a  boy  of  nine  years  could  be ;  he 
had  worked  nearly  two  months  exercising  Mrs.  Carle- 
ton's  horse;  he  had  made  about  $68;  he  had  been 
swindled  out  of  it  all,  except  $i,  and  now  he  was  walk- 
ing home  through  the  dust  over  the  road  he  had  many 
times  ridden  without  a  passenger.  By  the  time  he  had 
reached  Lotus  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  spend  the 
balance  of  his  life  in  hunting  for  that  swindler,  and 
when  found  to  kill  him  on  the  spot;  and  in  order  to 
do  so,  he  would  buy  a  pistol  with  his  remaining  money, 
which  he  did. 

His  misery  was  augmented  on  his  arrival  home  to 
find  that  Mrs.  Carleton  had  suddenly  returned,  and 
on  sight  of  Fred  she  gave  him  a  good  sound  scolding, 
and  wanted  to  have  him  arrested  for  using  her  poor, 
deaf  old  horse  Jupiter  and  her  wagon  for  an  express 
business.  Just  to  think,  said  she  to  a  neighbor,  that 
Jupiter,  behind  whom  had  ridden  her  lamented  illus- 
trious husband,  who  represented  the  county  in  Con- 
gress— to  think  that  such  an  honored  horse  should  be 
subjected  to  such  dishonorable  plebeian  uses! 


12  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

Fred  stood  in  disgrace.  On  the  fourth  day,  when 
his  mother  had  scolded  him  for  the  twenty-seventh 
time,  he  could  stand  it  no  longer ;  and,  taking  his  newly 
acquired  pistol  with  him,  he  ran  away  from  home, 
going  all  the  way  to  Cincinnati  on  foot,  where  at  the 
end  of  two  weeks  his  poor,  distracted  mother  found 
him. 

She  felt  that  her  family  was  in  irredeemable  dis- 
grace in  the  village  of  Lotus ;  and,  liking  Cincinnati 
better,  she  concluded  to  move  there  and  live  with  this 
runaway  boy,  her  only  child ;  and,  taking  up  -her  former 
profession  of  washing  clothes,  she  settled  in  Bucktown 
in  the  Queen  City,  sending  Fred  to  the  public  schools. 


CHAPTER    III. 

SAM    FORBES. 

SAM  FORBES  was  born  in  Ohio,  February  29,  at 
three  o'clock  A.M.,  in  the  village  of  Rouseville,  situated 
on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  River,  near  Maysville,  Ky. 
The  boys  of  the  place  considered  themselves  rich  if 
they  could  ever  manage  to  accumulate  and  have  on 
hand  at  one  and  the  same  time  as  much  as  two  cents; 
but  when  Sam  was  nine  years  old  he  broke  the  village 
record  by  gathering  into  his  possession  the  sum  of 
nine  cents,  thus  winning  no  small  fame  among  his 
comrades  as  a  capitalist. 

He  chanced  at  that  time  to  overhear  a  conversation 
between  two  farmers  to  the  effect  that  during  that 
season  nearly  every  man  in  the  county  was  going  to 
try  the  experiment  of  raising  hops,  as  the  soil  and 
climate  had  been  pronounced  adapted  for  their  produc- 
tion. Sam  had  never  seen  hops  grow,  and  being  of 
an  inquisitive  turn  of  mind,  he  asked  his  mother  about 
it,  who  explained  all  the  particulars  she  knew  regard- 
ing the  subject.  Sam  had  the  habit  of  never  forgetting 
anything  he  ever  heard,  and  when  his  mother  had 
finished,  her  information  was  securely  and  forever 
fastened  somewhere  in  his  brain,  but  without  any 


14  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

thought  on  his  part  that  he  would  ever  be  able  to  make 
use  of  what  he  had  heard. 

But  the  next  day,  while  playing  with  a  crowd  of 
boys  at  the  river  bank,  he  saw  floating  down-stream 
a  vast  quantity  of  hoop-poles,  that  had  been  lost  from 
a  flat-boat,  which  had  sunk  forty  miles  above.  There 
was  such  a  quantity  of  them  that  they  immediately 
attracted  Sam's  attention,  and  he  happened  to  remem- 
ber his  mother  had  said  that  hops  had  to  twine  or  grow 
around  poles  that  were  stuck  in  the  ground,  same  as  bean 
poles ;  so  immediately  taking  one  of  the  many  skiffs 
that  were  drawn  up  on  the  river  bank,  he  rowed  out 
and  gathered  sixty-three  poles,  and  then  called  to  the 
other  nine  boys  that  if  they  would  try  their  hand  at  it, 
he  would  give  them  one  cent  a  hundred  for  all  they 
could  save.  Knowing  Sam  was  a  capitalist  and  could 
make  his  word  good,  the  entire  nine  boys  in  their  respec- 
tive confiscated  skiffs  were  almost  immediately  out  in 
the  current  gathering  poles.  Each  one  succeeded  in 
securing  his  hundred  and  then  claimed  the  penny ;  but 
Sam  refused  to  pay  out  the  cash  until  they  carried  their 
piles  of  poles  up  and  into  the  cellar  of  his  house,  which 
they  did,  consuming  the  best  part  of  the  afternoon. 
When  Sam  had  time  to  count  the  pile  he  figured  up 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-three  poles,  and  thus  his  entire 
capital  of  nine  cents  was  invested  in  the  lucky  find 
from  the  river. 

A  month  later  the  hop-growing  season  commenced, 
and  Sam  had  no  difficulty  in  selling  to  the  townspeople 
the  poles  at  two  cents  each,  delivered.  He  hired  the 
boys  to  carry  the  poles  to  different  places  at  the  rate 
of  one  cent  for  twenty  poles,  and  when  he  had  them  all 
sold  and  delivered,  he  found  he  had  on  hand  $18.88, 
making  a  net  gain  of  $18.79  on  n^s  investment  of  nine 
cents,  which  he  figured  out  was  23,487^  per  cent,  profit ; 
and  as  he  was  not  versed  in  business  affairs,  he  did  not 
think  much  about  it,  as  he  had  an  idea  that  such  a 


SAM    FORBES.  15 

percentage  of  profit  was  an  every-day  occurrence  with 
men  of  money. 

It  would  be  an  interesting  book  if  everything  were 
recorded  in  it  that  passed  through  Sam's  head  as  to 
what  he  would  do  with  that  $18.88,  but  the  climax, 
would  be  reached  when  the  reader  learned  that  Sam's 
final  conclusion  as  to  the  disposition  of  the  entire 
amount  was  in  the  building  of  a  flying  machine  of  his 
own  invention. 

Sam's  father  was  dead ;  he  had  worked  in  the  village 
machine-shop  as  draughtsman  and  pattern-maker;  he 
was  always  inventing  something,  which  was  the  main 
and  natural  reason  why  he  was  poor.  Sam  inherited 
an  inventive  disposition.  By  the  time  he  was  six  years 
old  he  had  dug  a  trench  and  turned  some  of  the  water 
in  the  brook  up  between  the  hills  down  onto  the  little 
farm  that  was  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village,  where 
his  widowed  mother  lived.  The  water  from  the  trench 
turned  a  wheel,  that  churned  the  surplus  milk  from  the 
eight  cows  that  helped  to  make  a  living  for  the  widow 
and  her  three  children.  Sam  thus  saved  himself  the 
drudgery  of  churning,  and  consequently  had  more 
time  to  whittle  sticks,  which  was  his  favorite  pastime. 

They  owned  a  balky  horse  that  Sam  drove  in  deliv- 
ering milk  at  the  village,  and  at  the  age  of  seven  the 
boy  gained  great  notoriety  by  his  invention  of  a  means 
to  make  the  balky  horse  go.  His  invention  was  nothing 
more  or  less  than  not  giving  the  horse  anything  to  eat 
before  starting  on  the  morning  and  evening  milk  trips, 
and  then,  after  hitching  the  horse  to  the  milk  wagon, 
suspending  over  the  horse's  head  a  measure  of  oats 
twelve  inches  in  advance  of  his  mouth,  thus  causing 
the  animal  to  have  a  continual  prompting  to  go  for- 
ward-marching, in  order  to  get  something  to  satisfy 
his  hunger. 

Naturally,  his  next  invention  was  a  means  to  prevent 
the  horse  from  always  moving  on  or  running  away 


l6  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

when  Sam  desired  to  stop  at  the  homes  of  his  custom- 
ers, which  simple  invention  consisted  of  a  short  strap 
with  a  snapper  at  each  end — one  snapper  for  a  ring 
attached  by  a  strap  to  the  hoof  of  the  horse's  hind  leg, 
and  the  other  to  a  ring  fastened  on  the  forward  wheel 
of  the  milk  wagon. 

His  third  invention,  at  the  age  of  eight,  made  him 
famous,  and  exalted  him  among  the  boys.  He  utilized 
the  sun-dial  in  his  front  yard  by  attaching  to  it  a  focus- 
ing glass  to  fire  off,  at  exactly  nine  minutes  to  twelve 
o'clock,  a  cannon  he  had  improvised  out  of  an  old 
pistol  barrel,  and  almost  every  boy  in  the  town,  wher- 
ever he  happened  to  be  at  the  time  playing  hookey  from 
school,  would  spend  about  half  an  hour  as  noon-time 
approached  in  almost]  breathlessly  waiting  for  Sam's 
signal  to  tell  it  was  time  to  go  home  to  dinner. 

Sam,  in  his  spirit  of  investigation,  had  raised  him- 
self above  every  other  boy  in  the  village  by  successfully 
putting  his  mother's  clock  together  in  good  running 
order,  whereas  the  other  boys  had  made  dire  failures 
and  received  the  usual  thrashing  before  their  parents 
sent  for  the  clock-maker. 

But  the  reputation  of  Sam  as  an  inventor  was 
"  above  ninety  in  the  shade"  on  the  subject  of  kites. 
He  had  made  and  flown  all  the  usual  shapes  of  small, 
flat  kites  until  he  was  tired  of  them.  He  then  conceived 
of  larger  ideas,  and  made  a  kite  twenty-one  feet  high, 
which  thirty  boys  out  in  the  fields  raised  to  a  height 
of  three  hundred  feet  by  the  assistance  of  thirty-two 
clothes-lines  purloined  from  their  mothers'  back  yards. 
They  used  a  heavy  step-ladder  and  fifty  pounds  of 
wooden  kitchen  chairs  for  a  kite  tail,  all  of  which 
became  a  complete  wreck  when  the  clothes-line  broke 
and  the  kite  had  a  fall.  The  boys  each  received  a  flog- 
ging and  were  in  disgrace,  especially  Sam,  who  was 
named  as  the  ringleader;  but  while  in  disgrace  he  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  redeeming  his  lost  reputation,  and 


SAM    FORBES.  \*J 

his  mind  began  to  soar  amidst  the  altitudes  where  his 
kites  formerly  floated  at  their  highest.  He  departed 
from  the  usual  style  of  kites,  and  out  of  tissue-paper 
made  one  in  the  shape  of  a  box,  which  took  to  the  breeze 
in  graceful  pose.  He  then  made  out  of  tissue-paper 
a  hollow  swan  six  feet  long,  and  it  sailed  up  in  the  air 
to  the  astonishment  of  the  whole  town.  Then  he  made 
a  huge  tissue-paper  whale  with  red,  white,  and  blue 
stripes,  that  he  attached  to  a  heavy  cord  in  the  usual 
kite  fashion  and  sent  it  up  on  the  Fourth  of  July  to  the 
delight  of  the  entire  populace.  These,  with  fifty  other 
kites  of  different  shapes,  gave  him  great  local  fame ; 
but  he  came  near  being  arrested  when  he  induced  a 
small  boy  to  risk  his  life  in  making  an  ascent  in  one 
of  his  box  kites  built  on  a  gigantic  scale.  The  town 
constable  pulled  the  child  out  just  as  the  kite  was  rising 
from  the  ground. 

But  Sam's  career  as  an  inventor  in  Rouseville  came 
suddenly  to  an  end;  his  mother's  house  and  barn, 
which  they  paid  $200  a  year  rent  for,  burned  down; 
the  furniture  was  destroyed,  the  old  horse  and  eight 
cows  were  burned,  everything  they  had  was  gone,  and 
the  little  family  at  midnight  stood  homeless  out  in  the 
road.  This  misfortune  resulted  in  Mrs.  Forbes's  leav- 
ing the  town  and  going  down  the  river  to  Cincinnati 
with  her  family,  where  her  only  relative  in  America 
lived  on  the  river  front,  near  the  water-works  at 
Fulton,  and  where  she  and  Sam  obtained  employment 
in  a  paper-box  factory,  jointly  earning  just  enough 
to  keep  body  and  soul  together  for  themselves  and  the 
two  younger  children.  The  $18.79  that  Sam  had  made 
the  week  before  out  of  the  hop  poles  was  all  used  up 
in  the  steamboat  tickets  and  expenses  of  travel,  and 
thus  the  construction  of  Sam's  great  flying  machine 
was  indefinitely  postponed. 

But  Sam  had  not  been  in  the  Cincinnati  paper-box 
factory  six  months  before  he  suggested  to  the  foreman 


l8  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

eight  labor-saving  machines,  all  of  which  were  pat- 
ented by  the  firm  and  no  credit  or  additional  wages 
given  to  the  nine-year-old  boy,  who  was  in  entire 
ignorance  of  the  fact  that  he  was  entitled  by  law  to 
a  handsome  compensation. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ED    WEBSTER. 

ED  WEBSTER  was  a  lad  of  nine  years,  and  lived  in 
the  city  of  Cincinnati,  O.,  where  he  was  born  on 
February  29  at  three  o'clock  A.M.  His  mother  was 
poor,  and  consequently  their  home  was  not  on  a  par- 
ticularly attractive  street.  She  was  ever  happy  in  the 
thought  that  her  son  and  only  child  was  a  descendant, 
on  his  mother's  side,  of  one  of  the  Mayflower  Pilgrims ; 
and  she  herself  was  proud  to  say  that  she  was  born  in 
Boston,  and  that  her  father  and  grandfather  had  both 
been  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Her  husband  was 
dead,  and  left  nothing  except  his  name  and  ancestral 
pride,  being  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Cincinnati, 
a  Confederate  colonel,  and  a  native  Virginian. 

Ed's  mother's  heart  was  more  than  proud  on  account 
of  her  boy's  precocity,  especially  in  the  direction  of 
books.  He  was  never  known  to  earn  a  cent  or  bring 
a  penny  into  the  home,  and  would  do  nothing  but  read, 
read,  read.  When  he  was  seven  he  found  his  grand- 
father's Latin  grammar  and  studied  it  without  the  aid 
of  a  teacher.  He  seemed  to  be  bright  in  all  his  books, 
but  was  especially  so  in  grammar,  being  head  of  the 


2O  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

class,  never  missed  a  word  in  spelling,  and  was  first 
boy  for  gentlemanly  conduct.  The  best  part  of  his  life 
outside  of  school  hours  was  spent  in  Squire  Marchant's 
diminutive  law  office,  where  was  a  copy  of  the  Statutes 
of  the  State  of  Ohio  and  other  law  books,  and  he  read 
case  after  case  with  the  same  devouring  eagerness  as 
the  other  boys  of  the  neighborhood  ate  their  buckwheat 
cakes  and  syrup  for  breakfast.  All  the  time  he  could 
spare  from  reading  was  devoted  to  listening  to  legal 
quibbles  and  quarrels  that  were  constantly  being 
brought  before  the  squire  for  adjustment.  By  the  time 
Ed  was  nine  years  old  he  had  crude  law  down  to  a  fine 
point,  and  could  use  all  kinds  of  legal  Latin  terms  and 
was  becoming  a  seeming  prodigy  in  his  neighborhood, 
where  all  the  boys  and  girls  looked  upon  him  as  a 
wonderfully  finished  lawyer. 

The  squire  took  great  interest  in  Ed,  and  often  con- 
versed with  him  in  the  deepest  seriousness,  and  found 
the  lad  could  give  him  points  in  law-book  references, 
as  his  memory  was  marvellous.  The  squire  on  fre- 
quent occasions  in  open  court  asked  Ed  to  look  up  the 
statute  on  questions  in  dispute,  which  would  be  done 
while  the  squire  kept  order  in  the  room,  and  it  fre- 
quently happened  that  when  the  squire  would  ask  for 
the  reference  Ed  could  promptly  call  it  out  from 
memory.  One  day,  much  to  Ed's  gratification,  he  was 
called  upon  for  his  opinion,  which  he  gave  to  the 
audience  with  a  wonderful  look  of  wisdom.  His  con- 
struction of  the  law  always  gave  satisfaction  to  every 
one  in  the  case,  excepting,  of  course,  the  party  on  the 
other  side;  but  the  squire  had  such  unbounded  confi- 
dence in  Ed,  that  in  a  most  autocratic  and  excited  way 
he  would  subdue  any  opposition  and  uphold  Ed.  right 
or  wrong,  after  which  the  case  would  proceed. 

Squire  Marchant's  office,  nevertheless,  was  a  very 
popular  one  among  litigants;  his  adjustment  of  dis- 
putes almost  always  resulted  in  complete  satisfaction 


ED    WEBSTER.  21 

to  both  sides,  for  there  was  an  unusual  amount  of  what 
the  populace  called  horse  sense  in  his  ideas  of  justice. 
He  did  not  himself  have  the  law  down  '"'  extra  fine," 
but  his  Solomonic  decisions  were  very  impressive  and 
convincing.  He  was  also  quite  a  political  boss  in  his 
ward,  consequently  no  one  in  the  district  cared  to 
appeal  a  case  to  a  higher  court  for  fear  of  his  dis- 
pleasure. Ed  was  warmly  envied  in  having  the  official 
patronage,  friendship,  and  endorsement  of  so  great 
a  local  tyrant. 

The  squire  was  on  intimate  terms  with  the  registry 
clerk  in  the  great  law  office  of  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts ;  and  one  day,  at  the  request  of  Ed's  mother, 
but  really  on  the  suggestion  of  the  squire  himself,  he 
asked  the  clerk's  good  offices  in  securing  a  situation 
for  the  lad  as  office  boy,  thinking  it  was  about  time  he 
was  bringing  a  couple  of  dollars  a  week  into  the  family 
treasury. 

This  respect  that  the  squire  had  for  Ed's  smartness 
was  indulged  in  by  other  grown-up  persons,  and 
became  "  catching,"  so  that  the  young  gamins  of  the 
neighborhood  soon  imbibed  it. 

In  using  the  term  "  gamin"  it  is  with  a  desire 
to  convey  to  the  reader  a  full  and  rightful  impres- 
sion of  the  boys  of  that  vicinity,  for  no  fellow 
amounted  to  much  unless  he  belonged  to  "  de  gang." 
There  were  several  gangs  in  that  section  of  the  city, 
whose  foremost  object  in  federation  was  to  wage  war- 
fare upon  one  another.  In  fact,  it  was  the  principal 
occupation  of  the  policemen  of  the  district  to  intimi- 
date the  young  "  rascals"  to  such  a  degree  that  on  the 
mere  presence  or  approach  of  a  "  cop"  the  gang  would 
all  stampede ;  they  were  afraid,  since  they  well  knew 
that  all  a  policeman  had  to  do  was  to  arrest  them  on 
a  charge  of  some  kind  and  they  would  immediately 
plead  guilty  without  asking  questions,  for  there  was 
nothing  in  the  nature  of  a  boy's  offence  for  which  their 


22  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

consciences  did  not  continually  upbraid  them  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree. 

It  happened  one  afternoon  that  the  gang  was  playing 
in  Bender's  lot,  which  covered  about  two  acres.  It 
was  enclosed  by  a  high  board  fence,  official  ingress  to 
which  was  only  through  a  large  gate  that  was  continu- 
ally kept  locked  by  the  owner;  the  only  other  modes 
of  entering  were  by  climbing  over  the  high  fence  or 
squirming  through  an  aperture  made  by  the  removal 
of  a  very  narrow  board.  This  hole  was  only  large 
enough  for  a  boy  to  get  through,  no  policeman  ever 
having  succeeded  in  squeezing  in.  At  first  the  police- 
men determined  to  knock  off  another  board  for  easy 
access,  but  on  second  thought,  and  after  consultation 
among  themselves,  and  also  upon  mature  deliberation, 
they  concluded  to  let  it  remain  just  as  it  was  and 
thereby  encourage  the  youth  to  go  in,  for  there  was  no 
better  place  in  the  neighborhood  for1  boys  to  congre- 
gate, and  when  they  were  in  this  enclosed  place  they 
were  out  of  mischief  elsewhere.  So  the  policemen  left 
the  urchins  in  full  possession,  and  it  thus  became  an 
ideal  city  of  refuge  to  which  they  could  flee  on  all 
occasions. 

Upon  this  particular  afternoon  above  referred  to 
a  quarrel  was  in  progress  between  "  Dutchy"  and 
"  Red,"  two  of  the  gang,  in  which  the  whole  crowd 
had  taken  sides. 

"  Dutchy"  was  so  called  because  his  face  resembled 
that  of  a  Dutchman,  but  otherwise  he  was  Irish  to  the 
core,  including  his  name,  which  was  Jerry  McDugan. 
"  Red's"  name  was  Patsy  McGuire,  and  it  is  almost 
needless  to  add  that  he  received  his  nickname  from  the 
color  of  his  hair,  which  was  about  five  shades  brighter 
than  any  other  of  the  many  boys  in  the  gang  who  were 
similarly  embellished. 

The  object  or  cause  of  their  quarrel  was  a  meek  little 
white  dog  that  had  earned  its  title  for  meekness  by  just 


ED    WEBSTER.  23 

having  submitted  without  resistance  to  a  very  rough 
pulling,  jerking,  and  hauling  during  the  two  claimants' 
struggle  to  possess  him. 

Angry  words,  interspersed  with  impolite  language 
and  blows,  had  passed  between  "  Dutchy"  and  "  Red;" 
the  thirty  other  "  kids"  took  sides  and  entered  into  the 
dispute,  and  the  culminating  point  of  aggressive 
attempts  for  the  dog's  possession  was  just  about  being 
reached  when  the  slim,  nine-year-old  body  of  Ed 
Webster  was  seen  to  slip  through  the  fence  hole  and 
approach  the  disputants. 

Barney  Higgins  was  the  first  to  see  him ;  he  cried 
out  for  the  crowd  to  stop  fussing  and  "  let  de  ap- 
proachin'  lawyer  decide  de  case."  All  agreed  to  the 
proposal.  As  Ed  neared  them  the  quarrelling  ceased 
and  all  eyes  turned  in  his  direction,  for  every  one  of 
them  had  respect  for  the  little  fellow,  as  he  was  their 
superior  in  every  way  excepting  as  to  strength  and 
size.  He  had  no  muscle  at  all,  and  there  was  not  a  boy 
in  the  crowd  but  knew  that  he  could  "  lick"  Ed  with 
one  hand ;  yet  no  one  had  ever  had  a  quarrel  or  even 
a  desire  for  hard  feelings  against  him. 

Barney  told  Ed  that  "  de  gang  wanted  him  ter  settle 
der  bloomin'  fuss." 

Ed  was  listening  to  the  case  with  the  deepest  atten- 
tion when  the  talker's  statement  was  refuted  by  several 
others,  and  in  a  minute  more  all  was  confusion ;  every 
one  was  talking  at  once,  giving  his  respective  story. 
Words  ran  high  and  loud,  and  a  pitched  battle  was 
almost  on  hand  when  Ed  raised  both  hands  and  asked 
for  silence.  It  took  a  minute  for  the  quarrelling  to 
subside  sufficiently  for  Ed  to  be  heard,  and  then  he 
addressed  them  as  follows : 

"  Gentlemen,  if  you  desire  me  to  help  you  settle  this 
case,  you  must  be  orderly  and  do  things  in  a  legal  and 
lawful  manner.  In  that  case  I  will  be  happy  to  assist 
you  in  adjusting  the  difficulty,  but  you  must  consent 


24  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

to  act  like  law-abiding  citizens."  Barney  spoke  for  the 
crowd  and  said :  "  All  right,  go  on  wid  der  racket  in 
yer  own  way;"  and  they  all  agreed,  as  Barney  insisted, 
upon  having  "  de  law  take  its  course." 

The  boys,  at  Ed's  request,  then  brought  a  large  empty 
mortar  box  to  the  centre  of  the  lot,  where  they  turned 
it  upside  down.  Ed  mounted  it  and  sat  on  it  on  an 
inverted  soap  box,  and  when  all  was  adjusted  he  asked 
the  whole  crowd  to  sit  down  on  the  ground  in  front 
of  him.  After  they  were  all  seated  he  slowly  said : 

"  Gentlemen,  if  you  want  the  law  to  be  enforced,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  appoint  a  sheriff  to  take  charge 
of  the  dog — the  property  in  dispute.  The  sheriff  must 
be  a  man  who  will  obey  the  law  and  turn  the  dog  over 
to  whomsoever  this  court  decides  it  belongs.  In  the 
next  place,  I  will  state  that  there  is  no  use  having 
a  sheriff  unless  the  majority  of  you,  as  honorable 
citizens,  have  a  profound  respect  for  the  sheriff's  high 
office,  and  back  him  up  or  stand  by  him  when  he  starts 
to  obey  the  order  of  the  court."  Then  he  asked  the 
audience  if  they  would  consent  to  such  arrangements 
and  stand  by  the  sheriff ;  all  agreed,  and  then  he  asked 
them  to  elect  a  sheriff. 

One  of  the  boys  proposed  the  name  of  "  Jack" 
Sullivan,  the  largest  boy  in  the  gang,  because  he 
"  could  lick  any  feller  in  de  crowd  what  would  interfere 
wid  him ;"  but  Ed  from  his  bench  told  them  "  that  that 
would  not  be  respect  for  the  law,  it  would  only  be 
respect  for  the  great  strength  of  '  Jack'  Sullivan,  but 
that  if  they  wanted  to  really  be  honorable  citizens,  they 
should  elect  some  boy  who  was  small,  and  thus  prove 
that  they  were  all  gentlemen  by  respecting  a  sheriff 
who  was  under  their  size." 

The  new  proposition  was  received  with  great  appar- 
ent earnest  favor,  but  secretly  in  some  of  their  hearts 
they  approved  of  it  because  their  highest  ideal  was  to 
have  just  such  a  sheriff  or  a  policeman  whom  they 


ED    WEBSTER.  2$ 

could  overpower  if  occasion  came.  It  was  part  of  their 
education  to  long  for  such  a  Utopia.  They  agreed  to 
respect  the  sheriff's  office,  and  elected  Matthew  Arnold, 
a  little  fellow  of  the  gang,  who,  on  being  instructed, 
went  over,  took  possession  of  the  dog,  brought  it  back 
to  the  mortar  box,  and  sat  down  with  the  animal  on  his 
lap  near  the  feet  of  the  judge. 

Ed  next  asked  the  boys  "  to  appoint  three  court 
officers  to  maintain  order  during  the  trial,"  which  was 
done.  "Jack"  Sullivan,  the  mighty,  was  the  first  one 
named,  then  two  others  of  the  larger  boys,  and  then 
all  thre"e  came  and  sat  on  the  edge  of  the  box  to  be 
near  the  court.  When  all  was  arranged  Ed  said : 

"  Gentlemen,  the  proper  thing  to  do  now  would  be 
to  choose  a  jury;  but  as  every  one  present  is  prejudiced 
and  has  taken  positive  sides  in  the  matter,  the  case  will 
have  to  be  decided  in  the  manner  of  a  '  reference.' 
I  shall  have  to  be  the  referee  and  not  a  judge  on  this 
occasion,  so  I  will  ask  for  testimony,  and  will  first  call 
upon  '  Dutchy'  to  give  his  side  of  the  case." 

"  Dutchy"  stood  up  to  tell  his  story,  and  had  not 
said  ten  words  before  "  Red"  called  out  that  it  was 
a  lie. 

Ed  stopped  the  proceedings  and  calmly  told  "  Red" 
that  he  must  keep  quiet  and  fit  "  Dutchy"  finish,  and 
demanded  of  the  court  officers  that  they  must  keep 
order. 

When  "  Dutchy"  had  finished  Ed  then  called  upon 
"  Red"  to  give  his  version  of  the  affair,  which  he  did. 

Then  Ed  asked  "  Dutchy"  to  state  whom  he  wanted 
for  his  first  witness ;  a  boy  was  named  and  called  upon 
for  his  testimony,  which  was  given.  Then  Ed  asked 
"  Red"  to  also  name  his  first  witness,  which  was  done, 
and  his  story  was  heard. 

The  court  officers  upon  two  or  three  occasions  had 
to  suppress  would-be  interrupters ;  but  take  it  alto- 
gether (for  such  an  unusually  uncontrollable  crowd) 


26  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

they  behaved  themselves  orderly,  much  more  so 'on  an 
average  than  they  did  at  school. 

Ed  then  gave  every  boy  in  his  turn  an  opportunity 
to  tell  his  view  of  the  case;  he  positively  insisted  that 
no  one  should  be  interrupted ;  and  when  all  were 
through,  Ed,  finding  the  testimony  so  conflicting, 
asked  time  for  reflection,  and  it  was  five  minutes  before 
he  again  spoke.  The  boys  sat  orderly  and  in  silence 
awaiting  the  referee's  decision  as  to  whether  the  sheriff 
should  deliver  the  dog  to  "  Dutchy"  or  "  Red." 

At  last  Ed  broke  the  silence  and  said :  "  Gentlemen, 
the  testimony  is  so  much  at  variance  that  I  as-  referee 
am  at  a  loss  how  to  decide,  but  I  have  concluded  to 
settle  the  question  not  by  a  rule  of  jurisprudence,  but 
by  one  of  prudence."  These  two  words  created  a  most 
profound  impression  on  the  boys.  They  did  not  know 
their  meaning,  but  concluded  they  must  be  Latin  or 
Greek  and  something  very  severe,  or  else  Ed  would  not 
have  used  them. 

Ed  then  asked  all  the  boys  to  arise,  and  for  those 
who  thought  the  dog  belonged  to  "  Dutchy"  to  stand 
on  the  right  hand  and  those  who  favored  "  Red"  to 
stand  on  the  left.  The  division  was  about  even. 

Ed  next  directed  the  three  court  officers  to  stand  in 
front  of  him  between  the  two  factions,  and  that  the 
sheriff  holding  the  dog  by  the  collar  should  stoop  down 
in  front  of  them. 

Ed  then  sent  "  Dutchy"  and  "  Red"  fifty  feet  to  the 
front  of  each  of  their  respective  adherents. 

When  all  was  arranged  Ed  in  a  loud  voice  directed 
that  both  "  Dutchy"  and  "  Red"  should  call  in  a  kindly 
tone  for  the  dog  to  come  to  them,  which  they  did  in 
their  most  coaxing  voice,  and  when  the  sheriff,  at  Ed's 
command,  let  the  dog  go,  the  little  creature  with  a 
whinny  and  a  wagging  of  the  tail  and  a  happy  bark 
frisked  off  as  fast  as  his  little  legs  would  carry  him 
direct  to  "  Red"  and  jumped  up  in  his  arms  and  tried 


ED    WEBSTER.  27 

to  kiss  his  face,  while  "  Dutchy,"  mad  as  a  hornet, 
rushed  over  to  "  Red"  to  seize  the  dog;  but  the  crowd 
hilariously  yelled  and  with  one  voice  cried  out,  "  It's 
'  Red's'  dog,  it's  '  Red's' !"  and  then  "  Dutchy"  left  the 
field  crestfallen,  and  "  Red"  triumphantly  carried  the 
dog  away. 


CHAPTER    V. 

FLYNN    &    SCHMIDT. 

EVERYBODY  has  heard  of  the  great  "  Kite  Trust." 
The  company  originally  consisted  of  Micky  Flynn  and 
Fred  Schmidt,  and  was  organized  in  the  city  of  Cincin- 
nati, in  the  cellar  under  the  cottage  of  Widow  Flynn, 
which  sheltered  herself  and  two  children — Micky  and 
Sally. 

Mrs.  Flynn  took  in  washing  for  a  living.  She  was 
a  devout  Catholic,  and  was  respected  by  her  neighbors 
as  a  hard-working  woman  who  wanted  to  pay  for  what 
she  bought  and  live  at  peace  with  all  the  world.  Her 
daily  household  affairs  and  duties  were  as  regular  as 
the  clock  itself,  but  if  there  was  one  thing  attended  to 
more  faithfully  than  another,  it  was  her  prompt  arrival, 
rain  or  shine,  every  morning  at  the  five  o'clock  mass, 
spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter,  day  after  day  as 
the  years  rolled  by.  She  had  one  longing  wish,  which 
was  to  give  "  both  the  childer  a  dacent  edication." 

Micky  was  listless  at  school  in  every  study  excepting 
arithmetic,  and  he  much  desired  to  work  and  earn 
money;  but  as  he  was  only  ten,  his  mother  compelled 
him  to  go  to  school,  in  spite  of  his  regular  morning, 
noon,  and  evening  protest.  Sally  was  more  willing  to 
learn.  In  fact,  she  was  eager  to  study,  and  was  bright 


FLYNN    &    SCHMIDT.  2Q 

and  at  the  head  of  the  class  in  almost  everything.  Tidy 
in  her  appearance,  her  habits  in  this  respect  were 
a  terror  to  Micky,  who  was  forever  being  nagged  by 
her  for  his  tramp-like  clothes,  uncombed  hair,  and 
muddy,  bare  feet. 

The  day  of  the  organization  of  the  kite  firm  is  one 
long  to  be  remembered  in  the  annals  of  Bucktown  Hill. 
It  was  in  March,  yet  the  Fourth  of  July  was  coming, 
and  Micky  and  Fred  put  their  heads  together  as  to 
how  they  could  raise  and  save  money  to  have  on  hand 
for  the  national  celebration.  They  wanted  a  pistol, 
a  cannon,  some  powder,  ten  packs  of  fire-crackers,  and 
a  few  pin-wheels  and  Roman  candles  for  the  night 
show,  all  of  which  they  figured  would  cost  $3.80.  A 
stiff  breeze  was  blowing  at  the  time,  and  that  suggested 
kites ;  so  after  considerable  planning  they  concluded 
to  make  and  sell  kites,  and  then  they  went  down  into 
Micky's  cellar  to  talk  the  matter  over  secretly. 

Their  combined  capital  was  eight  cents,  of  which 
Micky  had  six  and  Fred  two.  But  when  the  subject 
of  "  division  of  profits"  was  discussed,  the  future  great 
Kite  Trust  was  in  the  gravest  danger.  Indeed,  it  came 
near  never  having  any  existence  at  all,  as  Micky  in- 
sisted that  he,  having  six  cents  and  furnishing  the 
cellar  free  of  rent,  while  Fred  only  had  two  cents, 
should  have  three-fourths  of  the  profits  and  Fred  only 
one-fourth.  Fred  insisted  on  a  "  square  game,"  and 
wanted  half.  A  regular  free  fight  ensued,  and  there 
is  no  telling  what  might  have  happened  if  Mrs.  Flynn 
had  not  "  taken  a  hand"  and  thrashed  both  boys 
soundly  for  raising  a  row  in  her  cellar. 

In  the  afternoon  the  boys  "  made  up"  and  tried  to 
talk  on  the  subject  of  kites  calmly  and  dispassionately. 
After  half  an  hour'  of  argument  there  was  almost  an- 
other explosion,  but  peace  finally  prevailed,  for  Micky, 
true  to  his  grasping  nature,  had  succeeded  in  convinc- 
ing Fred  for  various  reasons  that  he  (Micky)  ought 


30  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

to  have  the  larger  share.  Finally  the  proportion  of 
interest  in  the  firm  was  arranged  to  be  nine-sixteenths 
for  Micky  and  seven-sixteenths  for  Fred.  On  that 
basis  of  a  division  of  profits  was  the  firm  of  Flynn  & 
Schmidt  founded,  the  partners  then  leaving  the  cellar 
and  going  out  to  invest  their  capital  in  material  suit- 
able for  the  business. 

When  they  reached  the  street  they  met  Ed  Webster, 
who  lived  in  the  neighborhood  and  was  one  of  their 
"  crowd,"  and  who  was  looked  upon  by  all  the  rest 
of  the  boys  with  awe  on  account  of  his  knowing  Greek 
and  Latin,  and  also  because  he  was  earning  $2  a  week 
as  sweep  and  office  boy  in  the  great  law  firm  of  Lincoln, 
Seward  &  Evarts. 

The  "  Bucktown  gang,"  of  which  all  three  boys 
were  members,  was  not  exactly  agreeable  to  Ed  Web- 
ster as  companions,  because  they  were  rough  and 
boisterous,  while  he  was  of  a  quiet  and  thoughtful 
disposition,  and  had  very  little  to  say  on  boys'  subjects ; 
but  seemed,  as  the  Bucktown  crowd  said,  "  always  to 
be  thinkin'  whenever  he  wasn't  readin'  or  talkin'  law." 
He  was  a  member  of  the  gang  from  force  of  circum- 
stances, as  he  lived  in  the  neighborhood  and  there  were 
no  other  boys  to  play  with.  He  was  so  frail  and  such 
a  little  mite  of  a  fellow  that  all  the  rest  of  the  crowd 
seemed  individually  his  protectors,  and  no  one  dared 
touch  or  hurt  him  without  earning  the  wrath  and 
indignation  of  the  others.  So  with  his  little  slim  body 
of  only  eleven  years'  growth,  and  his  big  head,  pale 
face,  deep,  piercing,  black  eyes,  heavy  black  eyebrows, 
neat-fitting  but  faded  knickerbockers,  and  patched  but 
always  polished  shoes,  he  would  come  silently  among 
them  and  say  wise  things  and  use  such  big  words  and 
legal  expressions  that  they  wondered  how  he  could 
know  so  much.  All  this,  with  his  connection  with  the 
great  law  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts,  made  his 
opinion  and  companionship  of  wonderful  value. 


FLYNN    &    SCHMIDT.  3! 

Micky  and  Fred  confided  to  Ed  their  thoughts  about 
their  new  kite  business,  whereupon  Ed  asked  them  in 
a  most  serious  and  professional  manner  if  they  had 
drawn  up  and  signed  the  proper  partnership  papers. 
They  both  professed  entire  ignorance  of  what  part- 
nership papers  were;  whereupon  Ed  explained  the 
necessity  among  business  firms  of  having  written  and 
signed  agreements,  so  there  could  be  no  subsequent 
misunderstandings  and  fussings,  as  nine-tenths  of  all 
the  disputes  and  law  suits  in  the  courts  were  caused 
by  people  not  having  proper  and  written  under- 
standings before  they  entered  into  business  transac- 
tions. 

Both  Micky  and  Fred  protested  that  there  would  be 
no  misunderstandings  or  fussing  between  them,  as 
they  "  was  on  de  square  wid  one  another,"  and  ex- 
plained that  they  had  settled  the  ratio  of  profits  at  nine 
and  seven-sixteenths.  Ed  then  asked  Micky  if  he  was 
aware  that  there  was  a  rule  in  law  that  partners  were 
compelled  to  share  for  losses  in  the  same  proportion 
that  they  were  to  share  profits,  but  Micky  insisted 
"  there  wasn't  to  be  no  losses."  Ed  then  asked  them 
if  they  had  agreed  to  the  kind  of  work  each  was  to  do, 
as  to  who  was  to  do  the  buying  or  selling  or  manufac- 
turing, and  \vho  was  to  hold  the  money  and  pay  the 
bills,  and  how  long  the  partnership  was  to  last,  and 
such  things  as  that.  This  kind  of  suggestion  was  a 
bombshell  in  the  camp,  and  in  less  than  a  minute 
Micky  and  Fred  were  quarrelling  as  to  who  should 
hold  the  money. 

After  half  an  hour's  wrangling  and  almost  a  fight 
it  was  decided  that  Ed  was  right,  and  partnership 
papers  should  be  drawn  up  and  signed,  and  Ed  was 
asked  to  prepare  the  documents.  Ed  said  he  would  do 
it  for  a  fee  of  five  cents.  This  was  a  sad  blow  to  the 
partners,  whose  capital  was  only  eight  cents.  They 
saw,  however,  the  necessity  of  the  papers,  but  felt  the 


32  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

burden  of  contracting  a  debt  for  more  than  half  of 
their  funds. 

Micky,  who  was  never  known  to  part  with  a  penny 
willingly,  commenced  in  a  coaxing  way  to  ask  Ed  to 
do  it  for  nothing,  but  Ed  insisted  that  it  would  not  be 
professional  to  do  it  for  nothing;  he  must  insist  on 
the  five  cents  named  as  the  fee,  and  they  must  leave  it 
to  him  as  to  whether  he  would  insist  on  their  paying 
the  bill  if  they  made  no  money.  Micky  then  asked 
him  if  he  would  not  take  his  pay  in  kites  or  an  interest 
in  the  business.  Ed  said  no,  that  he  would  have  to 
follow  the  example  of  his  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts,  who  never  took  from  their  clients  merchandise 
or  interests  in  patents  or  real  estate,  etc.  The  law  firm 
always  insisted  on  "  cold  cash,"  for  they  would  never 
allow  themselves  to  be  drawn  into  business  enterprises, 
as  it  distracted  their  attention  from  their  regular  pro- 
fession. Ed  insisted  that  he  had  no  use  for  kites,  and 
would  not  go  into  business  with  them,  as  he  wanted 
to  be  a  lawyer  of  high  standing,  and  must  insist  on 
profiting  by  the  example  of  his  illustrious  employers. 
He  must  have  his  bill  paid  in  money  when  it  was  paid. 
He  said  that  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  did  not  present 
bills  to  some  of  their  clients  for  a  year  or  more,  and 
he  would  not  bring  in  his  bill  until  that  length  of  time 
if  they  preferred  it.  Micky  said  "  he  didn't  want  to 
run  up  no  bills  wid  any  one,"  and  then  in  a  patronizing 
tone  said  that  if  Ed  would  not  charge  for  drawing  up 
the  papers,  he  would  let  him  kiss  his  sister  Sally  for 
a  month  "  widout  interferen'." 

Micky  had  touched  a  tender  chord  in  Ed's  nature, 
and  his  little  white  cheeks  and  face  turned  red  with 
blushing.  Ed  thought  Sally  was  the  smartest  girl  in 
the  world,  and  Sally  thought  Ed  was  the  smartest  boy 
in  the  world.  Micky  had  kept  his  eyes  open  and  knew 
what  was  what,  and  so  for  the  sake  of  saving  a  penny 
or  two,  he,  like  many  older  persons,  was  perfectly 


FLYNN    &    SCHMIDT.  33 

willing  to  sacrifice  all  of  his  relations  to  carry  out  his 
plans;  but  Ed,  remembering  the  dignity  of  the  pro- 
fession he  aspired  to,  and  the  disgrace  such  a  transac- 
tion would  bring  to  the  legal  fraternity,  and  especially 
to  the  great  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts,  of 
which  he  was  now  office  boy,  straightened  up  and  said 
he  did  not  want  to  kiss  Sally,  and  insisted  on  five  cents 
as  being  the  amount  to  be  paid  for  his  professional 
services. 

Micky  proposed  several  other  plans,  but  had  at  last 
to  give  in,  as  his  partner  Fred  concluded  it  best  to 
have  regular  papers  drawn  up,  and  it  \vas  agreed  to 
pay  the  charge  out  of  the  profits  of  the  concern  for  the 
first  month  at  the  end  of  the  month,  and  if  there  were 
no  profits,  then  there  was  to  be  no  immediate  collection 
of  the  bill.  Ed  consented  to  that,  but  after  considerable 
talking  Micky  had  him  agree  that  the  five  cents  to  be 
paid  at  the  end  of  the  month  was  to  include  any  addi- 
tional legal  services  wanted  during  the  month ;  and 
then  the  \vhole  of  that  afternoon  and  evening  was 
consumed  in  writing,  rewriting,  changing,  and  altering 
the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  each  partner;  but  at 
last,  after  much  fussing  and  almost  fighting  on  the  part 
of  Micky  and  Fred  and  the  frequent  threatenings  of 
Mrs.  Flynn  to  come  downstairs  and  turn  the  boys  out 
if  they  did  not  make  less  noise  and  stop  quarrelling, 
Ed  finally  had  the  papers  written  out  on  manila  wrap- 
ping paper  in  satisfactory  shape.  The  boys  both  signed 
them,  Sally  coming  down  and  witnessing  it.  It  was 
agreed  by  all  parties,  at  Ed's  suggestion,  that  there 
should  be  two  papers  signed,  of  which  Sally  should  be 
the  custodian  or  holder,  and  then  all  \vent  home  happy, 
but  not  before  Micky  insisted  on  Ed's  drawing  up  and 
signing  a  paper  explaining  about  the  lawyer's  fee  of 
five  cents  for  the  entire  month's  advice  and  services. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  this  partnership  agreement, 
the  firm  would  not  have  lasted  two  days,  for  every  time 


34  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

a  quarrel  was  threatened  they  would  go  to  Sally  and 
ask  for  the  papers,  each  taking  one,  and  reading  in 
unison  to  see  who  was  wrong;  and  as  Fred  was  some- 
what in  love  with  Sally,  all  would  end  peacefully, 
especially  as  Mrs.  Flynn,  who  knew  of  the  written 
contract,  threatened  to  give  Micky  "  a  lickin'  "  if  he 
did  not  do  right  and  stand  by  his  agreement.  Sally 
would  read  the  papers  over  three  or  four  times  a  day 
just  to  admire  Ed's  neat  handwriting,  and  at  the  .end 
of  the  week  told  her  mother  that  he  must  be  awful 
smart  in  writing  law,  for  there  had  not  come  up  a 
single  point  of  difference  between  the  two  partners 
that  had  not  been  foreseen  by  a  clause  in  the  agreement 
to  meet  it. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

KITES. 

THERE  was  never  a  Thursday  ushered  in  with  more 
at  stake  to  the  entire  commercial  world  than  that  lovely 
March  day  in  the  city  of  Cincinnati  when  Micky  and 
Fred,  at  six  A.M.,  met  to  arrange  for  the  investment  of 
the  entire  capital  of  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt. 

Perhaps  every  one  who  reads  this  has  not  been 
instructed  in  the  mysteries  and  secrets  of  the  kite 
industry ;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  there  was  not  a  doubt 
in  the  minds  of  Micky  and  Fred  as  to  their  thorough, 
complete,  and  masterly  knowledge  of  every  detail  in 
kite  manufacturing  that  had  ever  been  invented, 
known,  or  published  up  to  that  day,  hour,  and  minute. 

Micky  was  up  at  three  o'clock  that  morning,  as  he 
could  not  sleep.  Procuring  a  piece  of  brown  wrapping 
paper,  he  wrote  out  the  following  rules,  and  handed 
them  to  Fred  upon  his  arrival.  They  were  read  sol- 
emnly and  in  silence. 

"  Furest — Yez  cut  2  longe  stikks  like  these  in  figur  I 
wid  a  hole  or  knotch  cutt  outer  de  ens,  same  as  der 
knotch  on  der  cloths  line  poal,  &  each  one  uv  der  stix 
der  same  length  as  der  odder,  and  den  yez  cutt  anudder 
shorter  stix  like  figur  2  allso  wid  knotches  cutt  outer 


THE    KITE    TRUST. 


each  ov  der  ends.      Then  yez  takes  er  long  pece  uv 

thred  and  tyes  dem  altergether,  likes  in  figur  3.  Plez 
notis  yez  furest  tyes  ther  thread 
around  der  stix  at  der  center  tite  az 
yer  kan  and  den  keeps  on  wid  der 
same  pece  uv  long  tread  rite  up  ter 
der  end  uv  eny  one  uv  der  stixs  and 
slips  it  in  der  knotch  and  den  yez 
keeps  rite  around  wid  der  same  pece 
of  long  tread  alaround  der  udder 
5  knotches  &  kum  back  ter  der  fuerst 
knotch  &  den  yer  pulls  der  tread  tite 
az  yer  kan  &  keeps  rite  on  wid  der 
FIG.  2.  same  pece  uv  long  tread  down  ter 

FiG.l.  der  centur  aggain  and  tyes  der  last 

end  uv  der  tread  tite  az  yer  kan, 

same  as  Figur  3,  and  yer  must  have  der  ens  uv  der 

stixs  all  strate  an  even  distance  from  der  centur,  an 

der  top  and  bottum  stix  even  frum  der  syde  stix  same 

as  in  Figur  3. 

"  Den  when  yez  have  der  frame 

maid  all  rite  like  in  figgur  3  den 

yez   lays   it   doun   on   der   tisher 

paper  like  in  figur  4  &  den  yez 

cutts  out  der  paper  like  der  shape 

uv    der    dottud    lynes    like    this 

&  then  yez  puts  payste 

on  der  edgez  uv  der  kyte  shaped 

tisher  paper  &  den  yer  putts  der 

kyte  fraime  on  tu  der  tisher  pap- 

per  aggain  &  turn  der  edgez  ovur 

der  edg  uv  der  thread  &  den  yez 

have  a  kyte  made  komplete  az  in  Fia.3. 

figgur  5  wid  der  stikx  outer  sight 

at  der  back,  &  den  yez  take  the  skraps  (which  is  der 

shaded  parts  uv  der  paper  in  Figur  4)  uv  tisher  paper 

that  is  left  or  waisted  &  kuts  out  wid  der  scizzors  sum 


KITES. 


37 


FIG.  4. 


harts  &  starz  &  paystes  dem  on  der  frunt  ov  der  kyte 
same  as  in  figur  5  only  yez  must  have  a  differunt 
kuller  ov  tisher  paper   fur   der 
harts  and  starz  than  der  kuller 
uv  der  kyte  so  as  ter  show  der 
differurence    uv    kuller    in    der 
Kontrast  uv  kullered  tisher  pa- 
per; der  starz  kan  be  one  kuller. 
der  harts  anudder  &  der  kyte  an- 
udder  kuller. 

"  We  sells  der  kytes  same  az 
in  figur  5,  but  we  puts  der  belly 
band  &  der  tail  string  if  der  kus- 
tumers  pays  i  sent  more  fur  der 
kyte  same  az  in  figur  6.  Der 
belly  band  iz  der  two  cross  threds 
tu  which  yez  tye  der  stryng  tu, 
that  yez  fly  der  kyte  wid,  &  wich  i  have  marked  A  & 
B,  and  der  tail  stryng  is  marked  X  &  wich  iz  ter  tye 
der  tail  tu  onter  der  kyte.  D  is 
der  stryng  &  E  is  der  tail.  Der 
last  two  thyngs  D  &  E  we  does 
not  sells  at  all." 

When  Fred  finished  reading  the 
above  rules  he  looked  very  seri- 
ous and  then  sat  down  on  the  steps 
and  read  them  again.  Handing 
them  back  to  Micky,  he  said  in  a 
very  grave  tone  "that  he  approv- 
ed the  whole  bloomin'  layout." 
They  then  proceeded  to  business. 
After  wrangling  for  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  as  to.  the 
exact  quantity  of  everything  to 

be  purchased,  they  went  to  the  stationery  store,  finally 
agreeing  that  three  cents  should  be  invested  in  tissue- 
paper  at  the  usual  rate  of  one  cent  per  sheet  of  the 


Fie.  5. 


THE    KITE    TRUST. 


standard  size  of  twenty  inches  wide  and  thirty  inches 
long.  They  figured  that  four  kites,  each  eight  by 
twelve  inches,  could  be  cut  from  a  sheet,  thus  making 
a  total  of  twelve  kites  from  the  three  sheets,  which  at 
the  retail  selling  price  of  two  cents  per  kite  would 
produce  a  total  revenue  of  twenty-four  cents. 

This  was  a  very  important  mo- 
ment in  the  kite  industry,  as  it 
settled  the  future  standard  as  to 
size  and  price.  That  sum  of 
twenty-four  cents  was  the  figure 
for  which  they  should  strive,  and 
for  the  present  it  was  agreed  that 
it  was  to  be  the  height  of  their 
ambition  to  make  and  sell  for  spot 
cash  twelve  kites  at  two  cents 
each.  One  sheet  each  of  red, 
white,  and  blue  tissue  was  agreed 
on  as  the  colors  that  best  suited 
their  tastes.  Micky  at  first  wanted 
a  sheet  of  green,  while  Fred  in- 


Fio.  6. 


sisted  on  a  sheet  of  yellow;  but  it  was  finally 
decided  to  drop  all  "  foreign  colors"  and  stand  by 
Fourth-of-July  decorations.  Fred  suggested  that 
one  cent  be  invested  in  flour  to  make  paste,  but 
Micky  said  that  that  was  "  a  ded  waist  uv  coin," 
and  suggested  they  should  go  down  to  the  bakery 
where  their  daily  bread  was  bought  and  ask  for 
the  privilege  to  scrape  the  insides  of  the  empty  flour 
barrels.  This  permission  they  received,  and  after 
about  two  dollars'  worth  of  time  was  invested  in  much 
dusting  and  turning  of  the  barrels  upside  down  and 
severe  shaking,  they  succeeded  in  gathering  about  two 
pounds,  enough,  as  they  thought,  for  the  season. 

The  next  item  was  kite  sticks,  which  they  set 'down 
as  not  costing  them  anything,  for  they  went  to  the 
carpenter  shop,  and  from  among  the  scraps  obtained 


KITES.  39 

a  piece  of  pine  board  of  very  straight  grain.  The  final 
article  was  thread,  almost  proving  to  be  the  last  straw 
to  their  cash  account.  Five  cents  was  all  they  had 
left,  and  it  was  the  exact  price  demanded  at  the  dry- 
goods  store  for  a  spool.  In  vain  did  Micky  try  to  have 
the  price  reduced  to  three  cents,  and  then  he  raised  up 
to  four  cents.  Then  Fred  asked  if  black  thread  wasn't 
cheaper,  and  if  the  man  would  not  unwind  it  and  sell 
them  half  a  spool ;  but  "  no"  was  the  only  answer  they 
received  to  every  inquiry;  it  was  a  whole  spool  or 
nothing,  and  five  cents  was  the  price.  When  Micky 
found  there  was  no  use  to  talk  any  longer,  he  was 
about  to  hand  over  the  "  nickle"  when  he  suddenly 
conceived  of  a  brilliant  idea,  and  wanted  to  know  of 
the  proprietor  if  "  both  uv  us  boys"  couldn't  earn  the 
spool  of  thread  by  cleaning  out  the  cellar  or  carrying 
bundles  or  something  of  that  kind.  The  dry-goods  man 
seized  upon  the  opportunity,  telling  Micky  and  Fred 
he  would  give  them  the  spool  of  thread  if  they  would 
clean  out  the  cellar,  which  they  proceeded  to  do,  play- 
ing "  hookey"  from  school  all  morning,  and  only  finish- 
ing in  time  to  get  home  for  dinner.  Both  Micky  and 
Fred  felt  elated  at  having  saved  the  price  of  the  thread, 
because  now  if  the  firm  "  busted,"  they  could  pay  Ed 
the  five  cents  they  owed  him  for  professional  services 
if  he  should  present  the  bill. 

Both  boys  went  back  to  school  in  the  afternoon, 
received  with  much  wailing  the  teacher's  usual  thrash- 
ing for  not  being  there  in  the  morning,  and  when  they 
reached  home  at  four  thirty  P.M.  they  went  to  whittling 
kite  sticks  with  a  will,  but  were  unable  to  finish  until 
bedtime. 

The  following  day,  Friday,  they  finished  notching 
the  kite  sticks,  arranged  the  framework,  and  cut  the 
tissue-paper  into  the  proper  shape  for  the  twelve  kites. 
Sally  cut  out  for  decorative  purposes  the  "  hearts  and 
stars"  from  the  scraps  or  wasted  portions  of  the  tissue 


4O  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

sheets,  and  also  boiled  the  flour  for  the  paste.  By  nine 
o'clock  *that  night  the  twelve  kites  were  finished  and 
ready  for  the  next  morning, .  at  which  time  the  two 
partners  were  to  go  off  on  different  routes  to  sell  the 
kites,  each  carrying  one  half  dozen. 

Saturday  was  just  the  day  for  kites.  A  stiff  breeze 
was  blowing,  and  the  voices  of  Micky  and  Fred  calling 
out  "  Kites  for  sale,  Kites  for  sale"  were  heard  above 
the  cries  of  the  fruit  venders,  rag-man,  and  scissors 
grinder.  Fred  sold  out  his  entire  six  kites  and  was 
home  by  twelve  o'clock,  but  Micky  did  not  get  back 
until  five  in  the  afternoon,  when  he  nearly  got  into 
a  fight  with  his  partner  because  Sally  said  that  Fred  was 
the  better  salesman  of  the  two;  but  they  stopped  the 
disputing  to  give  utterance  to  their  joy  and  satisfaction 
that  they  had  sold  out  everything  in  one  day,  this 
proving  almost  beyond  their  brightest  hopes. 

They  counted  out  their  money,  amounting  to  twelve 
cents  each,  and  by  the  terms  of  the  contract  or  partner- 
ship papers  Micky  was  the  treasurer,  and  Fred  handed 
him  his  twelve  cents,  when  a  solemn  silence  for  five 
minutes  ensued,  at  the  end  of  which  time  Fred  asked 
for  a  division  of  profits.  Fred,  who  afterward  became 
the  great  accountant  of  the  "  Trust,"  figured  and  wrote 
up  the  statement  as  follows : 

Capital  of  firm  at  commencement  of  business  8  cents 
Less  amount  paid  out  for  paper 3  " 

Balance  of  cash   left  at  commencement   of 

business  after  buying  goods .  .  . 5      " 

Sale  of  twelve  kites  at  two  cents  each 24      " 

Total  capital  at  end  of  first  week's  business .  .    29      " 
Less  capital  invested 8      " 

Total  profits  end  of  first  week 21       " 

(Two-thirds  spool  of  thread  and  some  paste  on  hand.) 


KITES.  41 

Fred  wanted  to  divide  up  the  profits,  or  at  least  have 
seven  cents  to  spend  for  himself.  Micky  attempted 
to  coax  him  to  leave  all  the  money  in  the  firm  to 
increase  the  business,  but  Fred  referred  to  the  partner- 
ship agreement,  declaring  it  read  nine-sixteenths  for 
Micky  and  seven-sixteenths  for  himself,  so  he  wanted 
sixteen  cents  divided  up  in  that  proportion  and  leave 
the  five-cent  balance  of  profits  in  the  concern,  thus 
increasing  the  cash  capital  from  eight  cents  to  thirteen 
cents.  One  word  led  to  another,  and  before  they  knew 
it  they  were  fighting.  Mrs.  Flynn,  however,  came  out, 
and  finding  what  was  the  matter,  gave  Micky  a  good 
flogging  for  not  "  doing  der  strait  bizness  as  der  con- 
tract agreed."  So  Micky  handed  over  seven  cents  and 
went  into  the  house  mad.  At  the  supper  table  he 
explained  to  his  mother  that  he  did  not  wrant  "  ter  '  do' 
his  pard  out  uv  der  money ;"  what  he  wanted  was  for 
both  of  them  not  to  spend  the  money  as  fast  as  they 
could  make  it,  but  to  keep  it  in  the  business  for  a  big" 
capital.  After  supper  he  went  over  and  again  ex- 
plained the  question  to  Fred.  He  told  him  the  object 
of  his  solicitude  was  to  have  a  large  capital  to  work 
on.  He  talked  about  thousands  of  dollars  ahead  for 
them  if  they  would  not  spend  their  money,  urged  him 
to  economize  in  every  form  he  could,  and  agreed  to 
resign  as  treasurer,  giving  up  that  place  to  Fred,  or, 
what  might  be  better,  let  Sally  hold  all  the  money. 
What  he  wanted  was  to  make  a  hundred  kites  next 
week,  which  would  require  more  cash  capital  than 
thirteen  cents.  What  was  the  use  of  spending  the 
money  for  candy  and  tops  and  such  things  ?  He  said : 
"  Come,  Fred,  let  us  get  rich  and  be  merchants  by  and 
by,  and  have  a  store  of  our  own."  Fred  objected;  but 
Micky,  fearing  another  "  licking"  from  his  mother  if 
he  got  into  another  fight,  suppressed  his  temper  and 
talked  on  and  on  in  a  coaxing  manner  until  Fred  at  last 
yielded,  gave  back  the  money,  and  went  down  for  Ed 


42  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

to  come  and  change  the  agreement,  so  that  they  could 
not  spend  any  of  the  money  until  July  3,  also  arranging 
for  Sally  to  be  treasurer. 

Ed  altered  the  papers  to  suit,  and  Micky  chuckled 
to  himself  that  the  alteration  and  charge  for  additional 
legal  services  for  the  month  was  included  in  the  "  five- 
cents"  contract.  The  money  was  turned  over  to  Sally, 
and  all  went  home  and  to  bed  the  best  of  friends.  As 
they  parted  Ed  said  in  a  most  solemn,  professional 
manner- :  "  Gentlemen,  this  hour  is  the  turning-point 
in  your  business  career ;  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt 
has  come  to  stay." 


.     CHAPTER    VII. 

A    FAIR    BEGINNING. 

IF  boys  were  compelled  to  play  ball,  they  would 
growl  and  call  it  pretty  hard  work,  and  likewise  if  they 
were  ordered  to  make  kites,  there  would  be  grumbling 
and  "  kicking"  ad  infinituui. 

The  foreman  of  any  factory  where  boys  worked 
would  have  turned  green  with  envy  could  he  have  real- 
ized the  industrious  energy  of  the  senior  and  junior 
members  of  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  cutting  kite 
sticks  the  first  three  days  on  the  second  week  of  its 
existence.  Every  morning  at  six  o'clock  until  school 
time,  then  at  the  dinner  hour,  then  again  from  half- 
past  four  until  six,  and  lastly  from  seven  until  as  late 
as  Mrs.  Flynn  would  let  them  remain,  the  boys  whittled 
sticks  down  in  the  cellar  until  the  pile  of  splinters 
would  have  startled  the  slumbering  liberality  of  an 
insurance  inspector. 

Every  night  Sally  and  Ed  came  down  and  joined  in 
the  conversation,  and  by  the  second  night  Sally  had 
learned  to  notch  the  sticks,  and  "  did  it  first  class." 
For  the  first  time  in  years  she  was  complimented  by 
Micky,  which  really  made  her  a  little  suspicious  as 
to  whether  he  meant  it  or  only  wanted  to  encourage 


44  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

her  to  work.  Ed  never  lifted  a  hand  to  do  a  thing; 
it  was  not  professional,  he  said  to  himself.  Fancy 
either  member  of  the  great  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts  calling  on  their  clients  and  taking  part  in  the 
common  work  of  a  mechanic.  No,  indeed!  was  his 
secret  conclusion.  So  he  simply  sat  by  and  talked — 
talked  just  as  he  imagined  his  illustrious  employers 
would  talk,  and  he  confined  himself  strictly  to  legal 
technicalities,  and  every  moment  increased  the  respect 
of  his  clients  for  his  wonderful  knowledge  of  the  law 
and  Latin,  and  also  doubled  and  trebled  the  admiration 
of  Sally  at  his  smartness.  He  never  smiled;  it  was 
a  serious  world  to  him  and  he  wanted  no  levity. 

By  Wednesday  evening  they  had  one  hundred  and 
twenty  kite  frames  finished,  and  Thursday  and  Friday 
were  devoted  to  purchasing  supplies  and  cutting  the 
tissue-paper  and  pasting  it  onto  the  kite  frames  and 
decorating  them  with  hearts  and  stars.  Two  more 
spools  of  thread  had  been  used  and  thirty  sheets  of 
tissue-paper,  for  which,  by  buying  by  the  quire  or 
more,  they  had  to  pay  'only  at  the  rate  of  half  a  cent 
a  sheet;  and  by  buying  two  spools  of  thread  at  one 
time,  they  had  succeeded  in  getting  a  reduction  of  ten 
per  cent.,  or  nine  cents  for  the  two  spools. 

Saturday  morning  at  seven  o'clock  saw  Micky  and 
Fred  starting  from  Bucktown  with  twenty-four  kites 
each,  both  agreeing  to  come  back  as  soon  as  sold  out, 
and  thus  a  rivalry  sprang  up  as  to  who  wrould  return 
first.  But  Micky  went  away  out  of  humor.  Sally  had 
been  talking  to  him  all  the  week  about  his  dirty  feet  and 
untidy  appearance,  wanting  him  to  wear  shoes ;  but 
Micky  would  do  nothing  of  the  kind,  and  Sally,  after 
breakfast  that  morning,  had  "  riled"  him  by  once  more 
nagging  him  on  the  subject.  He  went  away,  therefore, 
in  no  good  frame  of  mind. 

It  was  a  bright  and  windy  March  day,  boys  and 
little  children  being  eager  for  kites,  and  by  half-past 


A    FAIR    BEGINNING.  45 

nine  Fred  had  sold  out  and  was  back  again  for  more. 
Micky  did  not  return  until  noon,  and  met  Fred  coming 
back  from  his  second  trip,  having  sold  a  total  of  sixty 
kites  to  Micky's  twenty-four.  This  touched  Micky's 
store  of  jealousy,  and  a  quarrel  ensued  as  to  who  was 
the  better  salesman.  Blows  and  blood  followed,  and 
things  would  have  gone  all  to  pieces  if  Mrs.  Flynn  had 
not  sallied  forth  from  the  house  into  the  street  with 
a  broom  and  pounded  the  prostrate  bodies  of  both  boys 
until  they  were  glad  to  stop. 

Micky  got  the  worst  of  the  fight.  He  was  ashamed 
of  his  action,  and  began  to  realize  how  foolish  it  was 
for  "  pards  ter  care  who  sold  der  most."  So  after 
dinner  he  hunted  up  Fred  and  told  him  he  was  sorry, 
and  that  Fred  was  the  better  salesman  of  the  two,  and 
he  did  not  care  who  sold  the  most  kites  "  az  long  az 
they  waz  pards ;"  and  from  that  moment  there  was 
never  a  jealous  feeling  between  them.  Fred  recognized 
that  Micky  was  a  hustler  for  organization  and  schem- 
ing, and  was  the  real  boss  or  "  head  of  the  whole 
racket;"  Micky  appreciated  his  partner,  and  let  Fred 
know  that  he  considered  him  the  best  salesman  and 
bookkeeper  he  ever  heard  tell  of,  and  from  that  day  on 
their  seeming  flattery  of  one  another's  ability*  was 
earnestly  from  the  heart,  and  a  girdle  had  been  formed 
that  sincerely  united  them  for  their  giant  commercial 
enterprises  of  future  years. 

At  two  o'clock  they  started  out  for  a  second  trip. 
Micky  picked  out  twenty-four  kites  and  gave  the 
balance,  or  three  dozen,  to  Fred,  and  off  they  went  in 
different  directions.  Fred  returned  at  half-past  five 
without  a  single  kite  left,  having  sold  during  the  day 
seventy-two,  or  six  dozen,  at  two  cents  each,  and  had 
$1.44  for  his  day's  sales. 

Micky  did  not  return  until  half-past  seven.  Mrs. 
Flynn  was  alarmed,  as  Fred  had  had  his  supper  and 
had  come  up  to  hear  of  Micky's  experience.  He  had 


46  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

waited  nearly  an  hour.  Sally  was  afraid  something 
had  happened,  and  her  eyes  were  almost  full  of  tears 
at  the  memory  of  how  she  had  nagged  Micky  and 
started  the  day  wrong  for  him.  Ed  came  up,  and  after 
learning  the  cause  of  their  anxiety  told  them  in  a  most 
patronizing  manner  with  his  little  weak  yet  pleasing 
voice  not  to  be  alarmed,  as  the  city  was  in  a  good  state 
of  security,  the  law  being  upheld  on  every  hand,  fewer 
cases  coming  before  the  police  courts  than  for  many 
years  past.  He  begged  them  to  quiet  their  fears  and 
all  would  be  well. 

In  the  meantime,  Micky  had  had  one  of  the  experi- 
ences of  his  life,  one  that  was  to  affect  his  whole 
future;  and  he  always  remembered  it  as  a  prominent 
mile-stone  in  his  career. 

He  had  started  off  in  the  most  prosperous  portion 
of  the  city,  and  went  from  house  to  house,  ringing  the 
door-bells  and  asking  if  there  were  any  little  boys 
living  there  who  wanted  to  buy  a  kite.  Out  of  about 
twenty  houses  he  succeeded  in  selling  four  kites  at  the 
regular  price  of  two  cents  each.  The  next  house  that 
he  applied  at  was  a  large,  beautiful  stone-front  man- 
sion, having  a  hallway  in  the  centre,  and  with  great 
rooms  on  either  side  with  plate-glass  windows  and 
magnificent  lace  curtains.  It  was  in  the  centre  of  a  grand 
yard,  with  a  handsome  stable  in  the  rear.  Micky  felt 
sure  he  could  sell  a  kite  here,  so  with  much  assurance 
and  in  a  happy  frame  of  mind  he  rang  the  bell.  A 
maid  with  a  kindly  face  opened  the  door,  and  he  was 
about  to  ask  his  usual  question  about  kites  when  lo 
and  behold !  his  tongue  clave  to  the  roof  of  his  mouth. 
He  could  not  speak,  but  stood  transfixed,  for  there, 
behind  the  maid,  looking  at  him,  was  a  vision  such  as 
he  had  never  before  beheld.  Micky's  eyes  almost 
popped  out  of  his  head.  Could  he  be  dreaming?  was 
his  first  thought.  But  no,  he  was  not,  it  was  all  real. 
There  in  front  of  him  was  the  most  beautiful  little 


A    FAIR    BEGINNING.  47 

girl  of  his  own  age  he  had  ever  seen ;  she  was  dressed 
in  a  perfect  maze  of  pure  white  lace,  covered  with 
spangles  and  diamonds,  all  ready  to  go  to  an  afternoon 
party,  and  had  come  to  the  door,  thinking  it  was  the 
carriage.  Micky  tried  to  speak,  but  could  not.  She 
was  his  ideal  of  what  he  dreamed  must  be  a  little  angel 
or  a  fairy  queen.  It  wras  half  a  minute  before  he  knew 
what  he  was  there  for,  and  at  last  he  gained  control  of 
his  voice.  Presenting  a  kite  with  one  hand,  he  was 
about  to  ask  the  usual  question  when  suddenly  the 
little  angel  face  turned  to  one  of  anger.  He  saw  the 
pretty  little  nose  turned  upward,  and  heard  her  say 
quickly,  sharply,  and  scornfully :  "  Git  out,  you  dirty 
little  Irish  kid." 

If  a  hundred-ton  cannon  had  been  unexpectedly  fired 
off  back  of  him,  or  if  a  bullet  had  struck  him,  or  if 
anything-  else  dreadfully  startling  had  happened,  it 
would  not  have  surprised  or  wounded  Micky  more. 
When  he  fully  understood  what  had  occurred,  he  in- 
stantly comprehended  what  she  had  said,  and  hastily 
glancing  at  his  feet  and  clothes,  he  realized  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life  that  he  was  dirty.  It  was  an  awful 
contrast.  Never  before  had  he  thought  so  many  things 
in  the  short  space  of  one  and  one-quarter  seconds.  He 
found  himself  growing  warm  all  over,  the  deep  blush 
coming  to  his  cheeks,  and  he  knew  he  was  red  in  the 
face  from  his  chin  to  the  roots  of  his  hair.  He  was 
mortified,  embarrassed,  and  wanted  to  run,  but  could 
not  move.  At  last  when  he  was  almost  in  command  of 
himself  and  was  about  to  hang  down  his  head  and  go 
away,  he  once  more  gazed  at  the  vision  and  saw  the 
girl  "  make  a  face,"  and  heard  her  laugh.  It  was  like 
an  electric  shock.  His  humility  turned  to  anger  and 
his  strength  all  came  back;  he  felt  as  if  he  wanted  to 
run  in  and  "  smash"  her  turned-up  nose  and  "  sass" 
her  back.  This  he  was  about  to  do  when  once  more 
he  thought  of  his  own  uncleanly  appearance;  involun- 


48  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

tarily  he  turned  around  suddenly  and  fled  from  the 
presence  of  the  vision  as  if  he  were  followed  by  a 
hundred  ghosts. 

He  ran  like  a  deer  until  he  reached  the  corner  and 
then  stopped.  He  stood  in  a  fearful  state  of  anger  for 
a  minute,  clinching  his  fists.  With  almost  white  cheeks 
for  five  minutes  he  gazed  back  at  the  house  with  a 
steady,  winkless  eyelid,  and  then,  sinking  down  on  the 
curbstone,  he  became  faint  and  dizzy.  In  another 
minute  he  was  roused  from  his  stupor  by -the  clashing 
of  horses'  hoofs.  Looking  up,  he  saw  the  beautiful 
face  of  the  girl  who  had  just  insulted  him  driving  past 
in  a  magnificent  carriage,  the  little  girl's  eyes  met  his, 
and  he  saw  her  once  more  turn  up  her  dainty  nose  and 
laugh.  That  again  aroused  his  anger,  and  he  sat  there 
for  half  an  hour  nursing  his  wrath.  At  last  he  asked 
a  passing  boy  the  name  of  the  person  who  lived  in  the 
fine  house,  and  was  told  who  it  was.  He  was  a  great 
rich  merchant.  Micky  swore  in  his  inmost  heart, 
deliberately  vowing  that  he,  too,  would  be  a  great  and 
rich  merchant,  living  with  his  mother  in  a  fine  house. 
He  also  would  have  a  carriage.  His  sister  should  wear 
beautiful  white  clothes,  and  some  day  he  would  meet 
that  girl  and  make  her  sorry  for  calling  him  "  a  dirty 
Irish  kid."  He  would  do  this  and  do  that,  but  in  the 
meantime  another  half  hour  had  passed,  by,  no  sales 
of  kites  being  made. 

He  had  been  sitting  on  the  curb  in  front  of  a  grocery, 
and  as  he  was  about  to  go  the  groceryman,  who  was 
standing  in  his  door,  asked  him  what  he  was  doing 
with  so  many  kites.  Micky  replied  he  was  selling 
them.  The  man  looked  at  them,  noticing  that  they 
were  large,  nice  ones,  and  wanted  to  know  the  price. 
Micky  said  two  cents  each.  The  man  offered  him 
a  cent  apiece  for  a  dozen.  Micky  said  no,  two  cents 
each.  The  man  told  him  he  ought  to  sell  them  cheaper 
at  wholesale  than  at  retail.  Micky  then  had  a  long 


A    FAIR    BEGINNING.  49 

conversation  on  the  subject  of  what  "wholesale" meant, 
and  in  the  end  saw  it  was  sensible  to  sell  cheaper  in 
large  quantities,  and  at  last  struck  a  bargain  with  the 
grocer  for  eighteen  cents  a  dozen,  which  was  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  discount  on  his  regular  retail  price,  and 
was  a  good  enough  profit,  he  thought,  for  the  retailer. 
He  also  sold  the  groceryman  another  dozen  at  the  same 
price,  to  be  delivered  the  next  Saturday,  and  went 
away.  He  was  about  to  ring  another  door-bell  to  sell 
a  single  kite  when  the  thought  struck  him  of  commenc- 
ing to  be  a  great  merchant  right  off,  and  visions  of 
revenge  on  that  rude  girl  stirred  him  all  up  again. 
Coming  off  the  stoop  of  the  private  house  without 
ringing  the  bell,  he  started  for  another  grocery,  and 
talked  that  man  into  buying  four  kites  at  the  rate  of 
eighteen  cents  per  dozen,  and  an  agreement  for  an- 
other dozen  the  next  Saturday;  so  he  asked  for  a 
piece  of  wrapping-paper  and  wrote  down  on  it  both 
the  grocers'  addresses  and  entered  up  the  two  orders. 
He  then  went  to  the  next  grocery  and  sold  two  more 
of  his  kites  for.  cash  at  wholesale,  and  took  an  order 
for  a  dozen  to  be  delivered  one  week  hence.  That 
made  all  his  kites  sold  for  cash,  excepting  two,  and 
he  also  had  orders  for  three  dozen  more  for  future 
delivery ;  so  he  started  home. 

On  the  way  he  passed  many  more  groceries,  all  being 
pleased  with  the  sample  kites.  Before  he  reached  home 
he  had  wholesale  orders  for  thirty-one  dozen  (or  three 
hundred  and  seventy-two)  kites  at  eighteen  cents  per 
dozen,  to  be  delivered  the  following  Saturday.  He 
sold  the  last  two,  or  sample,  kites  that  he  carried  in 
his  hand  at  two  cents  each,  retail  price,  to  a  man  going 
home  from  Market;  and  tired  out  and  hungry,  Micky 
arrived  home  at  half-past  seven  and  told  his  anxious 
friends  of  his  new  experience  as  a  wholesale  merchant. 
All  were  amazed  and  delighted,  Fred  insisting  that 
Micky  was  the  better  salesman,  and  Micky  claiming  that 


50  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

Fred  was  the  better  salesman;  but  Micky  kept  the  story 
of  the  beautiful  little  girl  all  to  himself.  That  night 
his  anger  softened ;  he  became  ashamed  of  his  dirty 
appearance,  and  wet  his  pillow  with  tears.  He  made 
a  new  resolve  to  be  neat  and  surprise  Sally  and  his 
mother,  and  all  that  night  long  he  dreamed  of  a  sweet 
little  angel  face  that  kept  constantly  changing  into 
visions  of  a  hundred  varieties  of  horrid,  ugly  turned-up 
noses. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

BUSINESS    BOOMS. 

THE  Sunday  morning  sun  had  not  yet  risen  when 
Micky  awoke  from  his  disturbing  dreams.  He  heard 
the  clock  strike  three  and  four  and  five,  and  then 
springing  from  his  bed,  proceeded  to  carry  out  his 
determination  to  be  a  changed  boy. 

He  built  a  fire  in  the  kitchen,  heated  some  water,  and 
in  one  of  his  mother's  tubs  took  the  first  voluntary  bath 
of  his  life.  Every  other  one  he  had  ever  submitted  to 
bore  recollections  of  a  mother  holding  him  by  the  ears 
and  hair,  and  dousing  soapsuds  into  his  smarting  eyes 
and  protesting  mouth.  But  now  he  carefully  rubbed 
and  scoured,  and  scoured  and  rubbed,  and  enjoyed  see- 
ing his  body  clean.  He  actually,  thinking  it  was  dirt, 
rubbed  at  and  discovered  two  orthreelittle  moles  on  his 
chest  and  arms  that  he  had  never  noticed  before.  Then 
he  cleaned  up  things  around  the  room,  put  on  his 
Sunday  clothes,  and  shined  his  shoes  over  and  over 
again,  until  he_could  almost  see  his  face  in  them. 

His  most  difficult  task  was  combing  his  hair  into 
anything  like  peaceful  submission.  He  brushed  and 
brushed  the  sides,  and  wetted  the  front,  and  combed 
and  combed  the  back  until  it  at  last  seemed  to  be  some- 


52  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

what  conquered.  Then  he  looked  at  himself  in  the 
glass,  saying  to  himself  in  half  mortified  and  sup- 
pressed anger,  "  I'm  a  dirty  little  Irish  kid,  am  I  ?" 
He  brushed  his  hat  and  walked  out  with  the  dawning 
sunlight,  sitting  down  on  the  wooden  stoop  to  wait 
for  "  his  pard"  to  come,  which  was  very  soon.  Fred 
hardly  knew  Micky,  and  was  about  to  ask  the  "  new 
feller"  sitting  there  whether  Micky  was  in. 

Micky  explained  to  Fred  that  as  they  were  now 
going  to  be  merchants  and  do  a  wholesale  business 
they  must  look  decent  and  "  paralyze  der  publick." 
Fred  said  he  would  go  home  and  fix  up  too,  but  first 
he  wanted  to  hand  in  his  second  weekly  statement  of 
"  the  biz,"  that  he  had  made  up  last  night  before  he 
went  to  bed. 

Report  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  for  the  week  ending 
March  12. 

Amount  of  capital  invested 08 

Net  cash  profits  for  first  week 21 

Total  cash  on  hand  end  of  first  week .29 

Deduct  purchases: 

30    sheets    tissue-paper    at    one-half 

cent  per  sheet .15 

2  spools  thread 10 

Less  10  per  cent. 01       .09       .24 


Cash  on  hand  after  purchases .05 

Sold  102  kites  at  2  cents $2.04 

Sold  18  kites  at  24  cents  per  dozen.  .    .36 

Less  25  per  cent 09       .27  $2.31 


Total  cash  on  hand $2.36 

Less  capital  invested .08 


Total  net  profits $2.28 


BUSINESS   BOOMS.  53 

On  hand : 

One-half  spool  thread, 
some  paste, 

2  pieces  pine  board  for  sticks, 
some  scraps  of  tissue-paper. 

Micky  read  the  Statement  and  said :  "  Fred,  it's  a 
beaut,  but  next  week  we'll  break  der  rekord." 

Sally  almost  fell  over  backward  when  she  first  saw 
Micky;  but  recovering  herself,  said  nothing.  She 
went  up  and  gave  him  a  kiss,  and  said :  "  Why,  Micky, 
you're  the  best-looking  boy  on  the  hill."  In  a  few 
minutes  more  Mrs.  Flynn  came  home  from  early  mass, 
and  when  she  saw  Micky  she  stopped  dead  still  for 
ten  seconds,  almost  froze  with  surprise ;  but  she  walked 
right  past  him  without  saying  a  word,  \vent  into  the 
house,  and,  going  up  to  Sally  in  great  alarm,  whis- 
pered in  her  ear :  "  Saints  praserve  us !  What  in  ever 
the  whole  worruld  do  be  der  matter  wid  Micky?" 

Monday  morning  at  six  o'clock  found  the  senior 
and  junior  members  of  the  firm  whittling  kite  sticks 
in  good  earnest.  Fred  figured  that  the  31  dozen  kites 
sold  for  next  Saturday's  delivery  would  require  1116 
sticks — 744  long  ones  and  372  small  ones,  and  they 
calculated  they  would  have  to  "  hustle." 

After  supper  Ed  came  in  as  usual,  but  Sally  had  to 
stay  upstairs  and  study,  as  her  examinations  were 
coming  on.  Fred  got  mad  because  they  could  not  make 
sticks  fast  enough,  while  Micky  caught  the  same  im- 
patient fever,  and  both  the  boys  mixed  an  unusual 
quantity  of  profanity  in  their  conversation. 

Ed  listened  for  a  long  time,  and  at  last  said :  "  Boys, 
why  do  you  always  swear?  Can  you  not  get  along 
without  profanity?"  Fred  replied  that  it  soothed  their 
feelings  to  say  cuss  words.  "  But,"  said  Ed,  "  I  have 
been  considering  this  subject  of  swearing,  and  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  nothing  but  an  admis- 
sion of  downright  ignorance  on  their  part  for  persons 


54  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

to  swear."  "  Why,  what  does  yer  mean,"  said  Micky, 
looking  up  from  his  work ;  "  don't  edercated  people 
ever  swear?"  Ed  replied  "that  some  men  who  have 
been  educated  swear,  but  no  gentleman  of  real  educa- 
tion would  swear."  "  You  see,  boys,"  continued  Ed, 
"  educated  people  like  to  use  choice  and  grammatical 
words,  and  when  a  person  swears  it  is  a  '  deadly'  ad- 
mission on  his  part  that  he  cannot  find  any  other  words 
to  express  himself,  and  is  therefore  lacking  in  educa- 
tion. Now,  as  you  boys  are  going  to  enter  the  whole- 
sale business,  you  will  have  to  come  in  contact  with 
some  people  who  are  educated  and  some  who  are  not ; 
and  if  you  get  in  the  habit  of  swearing,  you  will  swear 
on  all  occasions,  and  may  offend  some  one,  and  thus 
lose  customers  and  business ;  but  if  you  are  not  in  the 
habit  of  swearing,  then  you  won't  swear,  and  you  will 
never  have  to  blame  yourselves  and  feel  afraid  you  lost 
business  on  account  of  swearing." 

The  result  of  the  argument  was  that  the  partners 
agreed  not  to  swear,  as  possibly  they  might  lose  some 
business  that  way.  Both  thought  Ed's  advice  was 
good,  and  Micky  said  he  was  glad  they  had  the  contract 
with  Ed  by  the  month  for  advice,  and  would  not  have 
an  extra  charge  in  the  bill  for  "  talk  on  der  swearen 
rackit." 

When  the  evening  work  was  finished  they  counted 
the  kite  sticks  made  during  the  first  day,  and  were  dis- 
mayed to  find  that  with  but  three  clays  to  put  aside  for 
stick  making  they  had  only  one-fifth  of  the  necessary 
quantity  completed.  Micky  and  Fred  both  looked 
dejected,  for,  to  put  it  according  to  Micky,  "  Dey 
couldn't  fill  der  kontraks." 

All  three  sat  in  silence  for  five  minutes  looking  like 
they  had  lost  their  last  friend,  when  Ed  broke  the 
silence  by  solemnly  saying:  "Yes,  gentlemen,  that  is 
the  one  serious  obstacle  to  your  success." 

"  What  is  der  obsterkle?"  asked  Micky. 

"  Sticks,"  said  Ed,  and  another  silence  ensued ;  and 


BUSINESS    BOOMS.  55 

then  they  solemnly  bade  one  another  good-night  and 
parted. 

The  next  morning  Ed  arrived  at  the  cellar  earlier 
than  ever  before  and  found  the  boys  working  for  dear 
life.  He  had  a  deep-set  "  professional"wsmile  on  his 
face,  and  after  saying  "  Good-morning"  he  announced 
that  he  had  solved  the  problem. 

"  What  problem?"  asked  Fred. 

"  Sticks,"  said  Ed. 

"Well,  what's  der  solution?"  said  Micky. 

Then  Ed,  with  an  air  of  importance,  said  that  he 
had  given  the  matter  much  thoughtful  consideration 
since  last  night,  and  it  had  come  to  his  mind  that  one 
of  the  clients  of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  was  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  matches  up  on  Wade 
Street,  there  being  a  machine  in  their  factory  that 
made  little  slim  sticks  twenty-five  inches  long,  just 
about  the  thickness  of  kite  sticks,  and  that  the  sticks 
had  necessarily  to  be  the  full  length  of  twenty-five 
inches  when  they  were  put  in  another  machine  that 
cut  them  and  made  them  into  small  matches.  He  had 
noticed  when  he  went  up  there  to  deliver  a  legal  paper 
for  his  firm  that  a  number  of  the  long  sticks  would 
break  and  were  thrown  to  one  side,  and  he  was  under 
the  impression  that  through  the  influence  of  Lincoln, 
Seward  &  Evarts  the  match  company  might  give 
Flynn  &  Schmidt  some  of  the  waste  or  broken  sticks. 

"  Do  you  think  they  would  give  them  to  us  for  noth- 
ing?" said  Micky. 

"  Yes,  I  think  my  mentioning  the  name  of  Lincoln, 
Seward  &  Evarts  to  the  foreman  would  have  great 
weight  toward  that  end." 

"  Let's  go  right  off,"  said  Micky  and  Fred  in  one 
voice,  dropping  their  work  at  the  same  second.  All 
three  started  on  a  half  run,  being  down  on  Wade  Street 
at  the  factory  by  half -past  six,  before  the  door  was 
opened. 

When  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  saw  a  lovely  pile 


56  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

of  waste  broken  kite  sticks  about  ten  feet  high  they 
nearly  fainted.  When  the  foreman  recognized  the 
representative  of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts,  and  heard 
his  request  in  behalf  of  his  clients,  he  told  the  boys 
they  could  have  all  of  the  scrap  pile  they  could  carry 
away.  Ed  then  left  them,  and  with  a  grand  air  of 
importance  bid  them  good-morning,  and  said  he 
guessed  he  would  go  down  to  the  office. 

Micky  and  Fred  could  hardly  believe  their  eyes  and 
ears,  and  when  they  found  the  foreman  was  really  in 
dead  earnest  they  fell  down  in  the  tenth  of  a  second 
on' their  knees  in  front  of  the  waste  pile  and  straight- 
ened out  into  bundles  enough  sticks  to  make  about 
twenty-five  thousand  kites,  and  nearly  broke  their 
backs  carrying  them  home. 

The  thirty-one  dozen  kites  were  finished  by  Friday 
night  and  delivered  on  Saturday  by  the  firm,  who  now 
had  on  clean  clothes  and  shining  boots,  and  the  cash 
was  received  for  the  entire  output  and  orders  taken 
for  fifty-three  dozen  kites  for  next  Saturday's  delivery. 

Fred  made  out  the  statement  as  follows : 

Statement  for  Week  Ending  March  19. 

Amount  of  capital  invested $0.08 

Net  cash  profits  at  end  of  second  week 2.28 

Total  cash  on  hand  commencement  of  week.  .  .   $2.36 

Deduct  purchases: 

4  quires  tissue-paper  at  12  cents  per 

quire .48 

6  spools  thread  at  5  cents 30 

Less  20  per  cent 06     .24 

I  box  shoe  blacking -  .05 

4  candles  for  cellar  at  2  cents ;  .08       .85 


Cash  on  hand  after  purchases $i-5i 


BUSINESS    BOOMS.  57 

Sold  31  dozen  kites  at  24  cents  per 

dozen $7-44 

Less  25  per  cent •.      1.86  5.58 


Total  cash  on  hand  end  of  third  week $7-O9 

Less  capital  invested 08 

Total  cash  profit  of  business  to  date $7.01 

On  hand : 

3  sheets  tissue-paper, 
i  cupful  flour, 
13,465  kite  sticks, 
^  candle, 
i  box  blacking, 
i  lot  of  scrap  tissue-paper. 

"  Isn't  that  a  daisy?"  said  Micky,  looking  with  ad- 
miration at  the  statement.  "  Fred,  you're  a  great  man 
to  know  how  to  write  up  a  biz  in  good  shape  like  that," 
and*  then  they  turned  all  the  money  over  to  Sally  and 
sat  down  and  talked  business  for  the  coming  week,  and 
when  they  parted  the  last  word  Fred  said  was :  "  Bully 
for  the  sticks ;"  and  Micky  said :  "  Yer  bet  cher  life 
on  it." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

LABOR. 

THE  flour  for  paste  had  now  given  out,  and  early 
Monday  morning  the  "  firm''  started  down  to  the 
bakery  for  the  especial  purpose  of  despoiling  the 
dusty  insides  of  more  empty  barrels.  The  work  was 
in  progress  when  one  of  the  workmen  said,  "  Vat  for 
you  cleans  oud  dot  embdy  parrels,  don't  it?"  Fred 
told  him  they  wanted  the  flour  to  make  paste  for  kites. 
"  Den  why  ain't  it  you  don't  goes  mit  dem  Lock 
Sthreed  down,  und  ghedts  blenty  of  dem  flours  for 
noddings  at  dem  piggest  fire  of  dot  week  last  gone, 
ain't  it?"  So  off  the  boys  started  for  Lock  Street  to 
the  scene  of  the  great  flour-mill  fire  of  the  previous 
week,  and  there  scattered  around  were  hundreds  of 
barrels  of  flour  damaged  and  splintered,  any  quantity 
of  the  precious  article  being  scattered  in  piles  on  the 
ground. 

Micky  informed  the  watchman  what  they  wanted 
flour  for,  and  was  told  that  they  could  help  themselves, 
so  they  carried  off  almost  fifty  pounds  in  two  broken 
soap  boxes,  and  were  in  high  glee  over  their  find. 

Their  next  good  fortune  came  through  their  legal 
counsellor.  Ed  called  that  night  and  told  the  firm  that 


LABOR."  59 

one  of  the  clients  of  his  law  firm  was  engaged  in  the 
wholesale  paper  business.  While  he  was  down  at  their 
store  or  warehouse  that  afternoon  attending  to  "  legal 
business"  (delivering  legal  notices),  he  saw  a  pile  of 
quires  of  various  colors  of  tissue-paper  that  were 
marked  "  samples,"  and  he  thought  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  that  Flynn  & 
Schmidt  might  buy  the  paper  at  a  large  reduction  or  at 
least  at  wholesale  prices.  So  at  eight  o'clock  the  next 
morning  Ed  and  his  clients  appeared  at  the  paper  ware- 
house. 

Ed  stated  their  mission,  and  that  he  personally  was 
connected  with  the  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts, 
and  that  those  gentlemen  with  him  were  his  clients. 
The  salesman  suppressed  a  smile,  and  called  for  one 
of  the  firm,  who  questioned  and  tried  to  cross-question 
Micky  and  Fred  regarding  their  business.  Micky  said 
he  was  the  head  of  the  firm  and  would  do  all  the  talk- 
ing, Fred  keeping  quiet.  Micky  was  smart  in  his 
replies,  and  would  not  divulge  the  sacred  secrets  of 
profits  or  particulars  about  kite  making.  Half  a  dozen 
of  the  clerks  gathered  about  to  listen  to  the  conversa- 
tion of  the  little  fellow,  and  the  proprietor  was  so  much 
pleased  with  the  self-important  air  of  Mr.  Flynn  that 
to  encourage  him  and  his  associate  he  sold  the  whole 
pile  of  sample  tissue  for  $i,  which  was  a  little  more 
than  the  price  of  waste  paper,  as  it  was  somewhat 
damaged.  Fred  said  he  would  go  up  home  and  get 
the  money.  The  proprietor,  however,  told  him  that  if 
their  counsel  (Ed)  would  vouch  for  their  responsibil- 
ity, he  would  trust  them  for  the  paper,  and  they  could 
carry  it  away  at  once,  and  pay  for  it  any  time  in  thirty 
days.  Fred  said  he  did  not  want  to  pay  for  it  in  thirty 
days,  but  would  pay  spot  cash  if  there  was  any  advan- 
tage to  be  gained,  and  was  told  if  he  wanted  to  pay  for 
it  to-day,  he  would  get  a  discount  of  2  per  cent.  Ed 
vouched  for  the  responsibility  of  the  firm  of  Flynn  & 


6O  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

Schmidt,  and  the  boys  had  hard  work  to  carry  the 
whole  of  the  tissue-paper  away  at.  one  time.  That 
afternoon  the  firm  came  down  and  paid  the  bill  of  $i, 
less  2  per  cent.,  receiving  a  receipted  bill  for  98  cents 
net,  made  out  in  the  name  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt.  Their 
firm  name  was  entered  in  the  great  ledger  of  the  paper 
warehouse,  which  made  the  boys  feel  important,  as  they 
now  realized  that  their  partnership  name  was  recog- 
nized and  down  in  writing  somewhere  in  the  business 
world. 

That  night  they  sorted  the  good  from  the  damaged 
and  counted  the  paper,  finding  there  were  seven  reams, 
with  only  about  one-third  of  it  spoiled.  There  was 
enough  that  was  good  to  make  ten  thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  eighty-six  kites,  and  when  Micky  corrobo- 
rated Fred's  figures,  they  stared  at  each  other  for  ten 
minutes,  the  deep  silence  being  only  broken  when 
Micky  said,  "  Well,  I'll  be  blowed." 

That  night  Micky  could  not  sleep.  He  was  very 
much  worried  on  the  subject  of  thread.  Flour  for 
paste  did  not  cost  them  anything.  Sticks  were  free. 
Tissue-paper  was  almost  without  price,  but  now  star- 
ing him  in  the  face  was  the  prospect  of  his  having  to 
pay  for  thread  the  next  day,  for  they  were  nearly  out. 
Why  should  he  pay  for  thread?  Where  could  he  get 
it  for  nothing?  And  as  he  tossed  and  tossed  about 
he  concluded  the  best  thing  to  do  was  to  call  on  Ed 
early  in  the  morning  and  see  if  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts  did  not  have  a  client  in  the  thread  business. 
This  was  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  Micky  and 
Fred  started  with  Ed  down  to  a  wholesale  dry-goods 
firm,  who  sold  them  two  hundred  spools  of  thread  for 
fifty  cents  for  the  lot.  The  thread  had  been  damaged 
by  fire  and  water,  and  had  been  on  hand  for  nearly  ten 
years.  While  it  was  not  rotten,  it  was  not  strong,  but 
was  good  enough  for  kite  frames. 

The  experience  of  the  last  few  days  in  looking  for 


LABOR.  6l 

bargains  was  a  great  event  in  Micky's  life.  It  turned 
his  head  into  the  channel  of  first  trying  to  get  what  he 
wanted,  if  possible,  without  costing  him  anything,  and 
then,  if  that  was  impossible,  to  figure  how  he  could  get 
it  for  as  near  to  nothing  as  possible.  When  he  after- 
ward became  worth  millions  and  millions,  the  habit 
seemed  to  have  grown  rather  than  to  have  diminished, 
as  further  events  in  the  history  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt 
will  prove. 

That  evening  Micky  and  Fred  received  their  first 
lesson  in  political  economy,  which  helped  them  in  after 
life  to  know  so  much  about  things.  Ed  and  Sally  were 
down  in  the  cellar,  and  joined  as  usual  in  the  conversa- 
tion while  the  kite  making  was  going  on.  The  subject 
of  the  price  of  tissue-paper  and  thread  came  up,  and 
Micky  said  he  did  not  know  how  people  found  out 
what  they  should  charge  for  things  anyway,  and  Fred 
said  he  didn't  either,  for  how  does  the  man  know  what 
to  charge  for  a  ream  of  paper  or  a  stove  or  a  table? 
How  do  they  get  the  price  ?  All  eyes,  including  Sally's, 
turned  to  Ed,  who  sat  silent  for  some  few  minutes  and 
then  said :  "  The  subject  is  a  vast  one,  and  I  have  been 
reading  about  it  in  the  big  books  in  the  library  of 
Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts.  It  is  very  easy  to  ask  such 
a  question,  but  it  is  much  harder  to  answer  it  in  a  com- 
prehensible manner.  It  comes  under  the  heading  or 
subject  called  "  Values."  "  What  is  the  value  of  any- 
thing that  is  for  sale?  is  the  question,"  and  the  nearest 
answer  is,  that  the  value  of  anything  is  the  amount  it 
costs  in  dollars  for  the  number  of  days'  labor  it  took 
men  to  make  the  thing. 

"  But,"  said  Fred,  "  the  man  didn't  make  the  wood 
for  the  table,  it  growed  itself,  so  how  did  he  know  what 
a  piece  of  wood  was  worth  to  put  in  his  table?" 

Ed  was  silent  for  some  time  and  then  replied  :  "  Fred 
says  the  man,  in  the  first  place,  did  not  make  the  piece 
of  wood,  and  that  is  very  true ;  but  what  is  truer  is  that 


62  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

no  man  since  the  world  commenced  ever  created  any- 
thing at  all.  Nature  gave  everything  to  start  with, 
and  ever  since  then  nature  has  been  making  and  grow- 
ing things  without  price,  and  all  a  man  can  do  is  to 
take  these  things  and  manufacture  them  or  change 
them  into  something  else.  Nature  never  charges  a  cent 
for  anything;  everything  that  is  for  sale  or  that  you 
can  see  around  you  never  cost  any  man  a  cent  so  far  as 
making  the  stuff  itself  is  concerned. 

"  The  tree  that  Fred's  wood  for  a  table  came  out  o£» 
was  produced  in  the  forest,  and  any  man  could  go  and 
cut  it  down  if  he  wanted  to.  Some  men  own  parts  of 
the  forest,  but  there  are  plenty  of  forests  that  no  one 
seems  to  own,  and  where  you  can  go  to-morrow  and 
cut  down  a  tree  if  you  want  to.  The  tree  grew  all  by 
itself,  no  man  doing  anything  to  make  it  grow.  It  did 
not  cost  any  man  a  single  cent,  but  as  soon  as  any  man 
wants  to  cut  it  down  and  it  takes  him  a  whole  day  to 
do  it,  then  the  tree  is  worth  $1.50,  which  is  the  amount 
of  a  day's  labor  in  the  lonely  places  where  the  forest  is. 
Then  two  more  men  cut  off  the  branches  and  haul  the 
tree  to  the  river,  and  it  takes  them  a  week  to  do  it. 
Wages  for  two  men  for  a  week  at  $1.50  per  day  is  $18 
for  the  two,  so  the  tree  or  log  has  cost  $1.50  -f  $i  8, 
or  a  total  of  $19.50  by  the  time  it  gets  to  the  river,  at 
which  place  a  man  comes  to  buy  it. 

"  Now  suppose  the  men  who  cut  down  the  tree  and 
hauled  it  should  ask  $50  for  it,  the  would-be  purchaser 
would  get  angry  at  them  and  not  pay  so  much,  because 
other  men  want  money  for  their  wives  and  children, 
and  would  be  glad  to  go  and  cut  down  another  tree 
and  bring  it  to  the  river  for  $19.50.  So  by  having 
competition,  or  other  men  wanting  to  do  the  same  kind 
of  business,  people  do  not  get  cheated  and  are  not 
charged  too  much. 

"  Next,  the  sawmill  charges  $5.50  for  labor  or  time 
in  sawing  up  the  log,  the  boards  being  then  worth  that 


LABOR.  63 

much  more,  or  a  total  of  $25 ;  and  as  there  are  twenty- 
five  boards  made  from  the  log,  they  are  each  worth 
one  twenty-fifth  of  the  total  cost  of  the  log,  or  $i  per 
board.  A  carpenter  comes  later  to  the  sawmill  and 
buys  three  of  the  boards  for  $i  apiece,  being  a  total  of 
$3,  and  goes  home  and  spends  one  week  in  making  the 
table  that  Fred  asks  about.  The  carpenter  in  the  town 
or  city  gets  $2.50  a  day,  which  is  $15  for  that  week  he 
worked  in  making  the  table,  and  he  pays  out  $2  addi- 
tional for  some  varnish,  glue,  nails,  and  iron  rollers ; 
so  the  carpenter  has  paid  out  $3  for  boards  and  $2  for 
other  things,  making  a  total  of  $5,  and  then  he  adds 
that  to  his  $15  for  his  week's  labor  and  wants  ($5  + 
$15)  $20  for  the  table.  So  that  is  the  way  the  price 
of  anything  is  fixed.  It  is  the  total  labor  put  into  it. 
If  the  carpenter  should  ask  $100  for  the  table,  the  cus- 
tomer would  laugh  at  him  and  go  to  another  carpenter, 
who  would  be  glad  to  get  $20  for  making  a  table,  and 
he  would  have  and  be  satisfied  with  $15  for  his  labor 
to  take  home  to  his  wife  and  children." 

"  But,"  said  Fred,  "  how  about  the  $2  he  paid  for 
glue  and  nails  and  paint  and  iron  rollers?"  "Well," 
said  Ed,  "  the  paint  is  made  from  lead  that  men  dug 
out  of  the  ground.  All  the  mining  man  had  to  do  was 
to  go  and  work  at  $1.50  per  day,  and  get  it  out  of  the 
ground  free  of  charge  for  the  stuff  itself.  All  it  costs 
is  the  wages  he  wanted,  and  it  was  the  same  way  with 
the  iron  rollers  on  the  bottom  of  the  table,  and  every- 
thing else  about  the  table.  Then  when  the  customer 
buys  it  for  $20  he  has  to  pay  an  expressman  fifty  cents 
for  his  labor  and  time  in  carting  it  home,  and  so  the 
table  cost  the  customer  fifty  cents  more,  or  $20.50;  and 
every  cent  of  it  was  for  some  workingman's  labor,  and 
not  a  cent  of  it  was  for  any  of  the  original  material 
on  which  the  men  spent  their  time  working.  All  man 
does  is  to  change  God's  gifts  from  one  thing  into 
another,  the  doing  of  which  is  called  transmuting  or 


64  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

manufacturing.  Your  flour  was  made  from  wheat  that 
grew  out  of  the  ground.  The  thread  was  made  from 
cotton  that  grew  out  of  the  ground.  The  paper  was 
made  from  rags  that  were  once  good  cloth,  and  the 
cloth  was  made  from  cotton  that  grew  out  of  the 
ground.  The  farmer  worked  or  labored  to  raise  them 
from  the  ground,  and  sold  them,  and  so  received  his 
pay  for  his  hard  labor  in  directing  and  cultivating  and 
caring  for  the  things  that  nature  permitted  to  grow  out 
of  the  ground.  So  everything  comes  out  of  the  air  or 
water  or  ground,  and  God  originally  made  or  created 
them,  and  all  man  has  to  do  is  to  get  them  together 
and  change  them  into  things  we  want." 

"  Then,"  said  Fred,  "  if  our  kites  represent  our 
labor,  we  are  getting  very  good  wages." 

Ed  said  that  was  just,  the  point  on  which  he  was 
having  considerable  anxiety  for  the  firm  of  Flynn  & 
Schmidt,  for.  at  any  moment  they  were  liable  to  have 
competition,  and  then  the  other  boys  who  might  go 
into  the  business  might  make  kites  and  sell  them  for 
a  less  price,  and  thus  cut  down  their  profits. 

Micky  said  he  "  would  bust  any  feller's  head  that 
would  try  and  hurt  their  business,"  and  Fred  said  he 
would  too.  Sally  was  much  alarmed  at  such  a  possi- 
bility of  competition,  and  asked  Ed  if  Lincoln,  Seward 
&  Evarts  could  not  stop  other  boys  from  making  kites, 
so  that  Fred  and  Micky  could  have  it  all  to  themselves, 
or,  as  Ed  called  it,  a  monopoly. 

Ed  said  he  did  not  see  at  present  how  such  a  thing 
could  be  done.  Then  all  bid  one  another  good-night. 


CHAPTER    X. 

PROSPERING. 

THE  next  evening,  when  all  were  assembled  in  the 
cellar,  Micky  said  to  Ed  that  he  had  been  thinking 
about  the  statement  that  the  value  of  a  thing  repre- 
sented only  the  amount  of  labor  put  into  it.  "  Now 
suppose,"  said  Micky,  "  that  I  should  go  out  into  the 
wild  woods  and  find  under  a  stone  in  a  creek  a  beautiful 
diamond  that  I  could  sell  for  $1000,  would  I  have  put 
a  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  labor  into  it?  All  I  did 
was  to  stoop  down  and  pick  it  up." 

"  No,"  said  Ed;  "  that  is  one  of  the  chance  things 
you  would  run  across  in  life,  just  like  yesterday,  when 
.  you  discovered  and  got  for  nothing  two  dollars'  worth 
of  flour.  You  will  not  always  have  such  luck.  You 
might  spend  a  month  or  a  hundred  dollars'  worth  of 
time  in  hunting  around  for  another  $2  pile  of  flour 
lying  around  loose  in  some  street.  Such  things  do 
not  occur  often;  and  so  in  the  same  way  you  might 
hunt  for  a  hundred  years  before  you  would  ever  find 
another  diamond,  which  would  be  only  an  average  of 
$10  per  year  for  your  hundred  years  of  time,  and  you 
certainly  would  not  work  for  $10  a  year.  If  any  one 
person  could  go  out  and  find  a  diamond  as  easy  as  the 


66  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

one  you  speak  of,  then  diamonds  would  not  "be  worth 
even  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  apiece,  because  it  would  be 
the  easiest  way  in  the  world  to  make  money  if  all  you 
had  to  do  was  to  go  out  in  the  woods  in  the  morning 
and  look  under  a  stone  and  get  a  diamond  and  then 
come  into  town  and  sell  it  to  a  man  for  $1000;  why, 
if  you  could  do  that,  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
would  start  out  in  the  country  early  in  the  morning 
and  almost  break  their  necks  to  be  the  first  to  look 
under  a  stone  and  get  a  diamond  or  a  dozen  of  them 
if  they  could,  and  then  hasten  back  to  town  to  find  the 
man  who  would  give  them  $1000  apiece  for  them;  and 
the  man  would  have  so  many  diamonds  presented  to 
him  by  ten  o'clock  on  the  very  first  morning  that  it 
would  break  up  twenty  Vanderbilts  to  pay  for  them  all, 
and  when  he  got  them  what  could  he  do  with  them? 
No  person  would  give  the  diamond  dealer  over  twenty- 
five  cents  apiece  for  them,  because  they  could  buy  them 
at  that  price  from  plenty  of  boys  who  would  be  glad 
to  pick  up  diamonds  all  day  long  for  less  than  a  quarter 
apiece,  if  they  were  so  easy  to  get.  If  you  should  find 
that  diamond  you  speak  of,  then  a  thousand  men  would 
get  excited  and  start  out  the  next  day  to  look  for  more 
diamonds,  and  when  they  came  home  in  the  evening 
without  a  single  one  between  them,  each  man  would 
have  lost  a  day,  a  thousand  days  between  them  all,  and 
thus  a  thousand  days'  time  would  have  been  wasted ; 
so  your  diamond  would  have  cost  the  average  labor 
or  time  of  a  thousand  men  for  one  day,  or  a  total  of 
a  thousand  days'  time,  which  would  make  for  the 
$1000  just  $i  a  day  for  a  thousand  men.  They  had 
better  stayed  at  home  and  worked  at  their  trades  and 
earned  something,  if  only  the  price  of  a  loaf  of  bread. 

"  If  hams  and  biscuits  grew  on  trees  all  the  year 
round,  and  hot  coffee  ran  out  of  the  ground  like  spring 
water,  then  most  of  the  people  in  the  world  would  only 
work  long  enough  to  get  money  to  buy  a  ham  and  bis- 


PROSPERING.  67 

cuit  tree  and  a  sweet  coffee  spring,  and  their  children 
would  afterward  own  it  and  never  have  to  work  at  all, 
but  just  lie  on  their  backs  and  let  sandwiches  drop 
down  into  their  mouths,  and  then  they  would  chew 
away  until  they  went  to  sleep." 

This  idea  of  a  ham  sandwich  grove  set  the  hearers 
into  a  laugh.  They  wound  up  the  evening  with  a  still 
more  exalted  opinion  of  Ed's  knowledge,  and  Sally 
was  up  later  than  any  of  them,  studying  harder  than 
ever  to  try  to  be  even  half  as  smart  as  Ed. 

By  Friday  night  the  whole  fifty-three  dozen  kites 
were  finished,  and  on  Saturday  were  delivered  and 
money  received,  excepting  for  one  dozen.  Fred  deliv- 
ered that  dozen  to  a  groceryman  in  the  morning,  who 
said  he  was  busy,  and  would  Fred  come  back  in  the 
afternoon  for  the  money.  Fred  trusted  the  man  with 
the  kites,  and  when  he  returned  in  the  afternoon  for 
the  money  the  man  refused  to  pay  for  them  or  give 
them  back.  When  Micky  heard  of  it  he  wanted  to 
go  right  down  and  smash  in  the  man's  windows  with 
cobble-stones,  but  Ed  warned  him  against  such  a  pro- 
ceeding, as  he  would  be  apt  to  get  arrested;  the  best 
thing  for  them  to  do  was  to  let  the  law  take  its  course, 
and  he  would  bring  suit  against  the  groceryman.  Ed 
took  down  voluminous  notes  on  a  large  piece  of  manila 
wrapping-paper  for  the  purpose  of  properly  preparing 
the  case. 

That  evening  Fred  made  up  the  statement  for  the 
end  of  the  fourth  week,  and  after  consulting  Micky 
they  paid  Ed  his  five  cents  for  legal  services  for  the 
first  month,  as  per  agreement,  and  Ed  wrote  out  the 
following  receipt: 


68  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

CINCINNATI,  O.,  March  28. 
Messrs.  Flynn  &  Schmidt, 

To  Edward  Webster,  with 

Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts,  Dr. 
To  professional  services  as  follows : 

March  3     Drawing  up  Partnership  Papers 
3     Altering 
8     Advice 
10     Advice 


15  Services  in  the  matter  of  sticks 

1 6  Services  in  the  matter  of  tissue- 

paper 

17  Services  in  the  matter  of  thread 


Five 
cents 

(Sets) 


1 8  Advice 

19  Advice 

20  Advice 
22     Advice 

Received  payment, 

EDWARD  WEBSTER, 
With  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts. 

Ed  received  the  five  cents,  and  in  the  most  courteous 
manner  thanked  his  clients  for  the  fee  and  wished  them 
the  greatest  of  future  prosperity,  being  about  to  bid 
them  good-evening,  when  Micky  detained  him  and 
wanted  to  know  if  he  would  give  them  legal  advice  for 
another  month  for  the  same  price.  Ed  replied  promptly 
that  he  could  not,  as  the  kite  business  had  been  success- 
ful, with  a  prospect  of  a  still  greater  draft  upon  him 
for  professional  advice,  and  that  the  least  he  could 
consistently  undertake  the  responsibility  for  during  the 
coming  month  was  the  sum  of  $i. 

"  What !"  cried  Micky,  jumping  up  in  excitement, 
and  upsetting  the  work-table  and  paste-pot.  "  What ! 
$i !"  and  he  glared  at  Ed  as  if  he  would  eat  him 
up.  Ed  stood  placid  and  undisturbed  and  eyed 
Micky  for  half  a  minute  and  calmly  said:  "  Yes,  $i." 
Micky  was  about  to  get  mad  when  Fred  interrupted 


PROSPERING.  69 

and  insisted  on  his  coming  upstairs,  as  he  wanted  to 
talk  to  him  alone.  Micky  did  not  want  to  go  upstairs, 
but  at  last  yielded  to  Fred's  request,  and  after  five 
minutes'  absence  returned  and  offered  Ed  fifty  cents; 
and  if  he  could  not  take  that,  they  would  do  without 
a  lawyer.  Ed  hardly  moved  a  muscle,  and  calmly  said : 
"  $i  is  the  charge,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  argue  the 
matter.  You  are  at  liberty  to  employ  our  firm  or  not, 
just  as  you  please;"  and,  bidding  them  good-night, 
left  the  cellar  for  home. 

Sally  had  overheard  the  conversation,  and  asked  Ed 
to  stop,  but  he  said:  "  No;  his  firm  was  not  seeking 
business;  business  sought  it."  After  Ed  had  gone 
Sally  and  the  boys  talked  the  matter  over,  and  con- 
cluded it  was  best  to  send  for  Ed;  but  he  would  not 
come,  so  the  firm  went  down  to  see  him  and  talked  the 
matter  over  on  his  front  stoop,  coming  to  his  terms  of 
$i  for  the  ensuing  month.  They  went  up  to  Micky's 
cellar,  and  made  out  and  signed  the  contract;  but  Micky 
insisted  on  including  in  the  fee  the  charges  for  services 
in  the  coming  suit  against  Lowenstein,  the  grocer  who 
owed  them  for  the  dozen  kites.  Ed  consented,  but  had 
it  understood  that  the  charges  were  only  for  advice  or 
services  to  be  performed  during  that  month,  and  not 
beyond  that  time. 

After  it  was  all  over  Ed  said :  "  Gentlemen,  you  have 
done  a  very  wise  thing,  for  I  am  sure  if  you  had  gone 
on  without  a  legal  adviser,  you  would  have  got  your- 
selves into  trouble  before  the  end  of  the  month.  The  firm 
of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  do  not  need  you  as  much 
as  you  need  them.  They  are  prosperous  and  not  de- 
pendent on  anyone  person  or  firm  for  their  daily  bread ; 
they  are  honorable,  and  give  good  advice  and  prefer 
to  charge  their  clients  for  keeping  them  out  of  trouble 
rather  than  getting  them  out  of  trouble,  and  I  would 
advise  you  always  to  remember  that  that  plan  of  action 
will  ever  be  the  wisest  one  for  you  to  pursue.  Look 
ahead  and  keep  out  of  trouble,  so  you  will  not  be  running 


70  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

around  for  lawyers  to  get  you  out  of  trouble.  The 
best  clients  that  lawyers  have  are  those  who  draw  up 
their  own  papers  or  make  their  own  wills,  and  who  try 
to  attend  to  their  own  legal  affairs.  Some  lawyers  are 
in  need  of  business,  and  \vill  take  any  case  they  can  get 
hold  of  and  complicate  it,  and  let  it  run  along  as  slowly 
as  they  can  and  get  their  client  into  all  kinds  of  ex- 
penses and  mystifications  and  then  take  the  poor 
distracted  man's  home  in  part  payment  for  services; 
but  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  will  do  fairly  by  you, 
and  my  advice  is  for  you  to  pay  them  well  while  you 
are  prosperous,  and  if  trouble  comes,  they  will  then 
stand  by  and  help  you  for  moderate  fees  to  suit  your 
circumstances.  Please  remember  that  any  fool  can  get 
into  a  lawsuit  with  his  fellow-man,  but  the  real  diplo- 
macy of  life  is  in  masterfully  skirmishing  on  the  edges 
of  disputes  and  avoiding  the  conflict.  Right  wilj 
ultimately  prevail." 

After  Ed  had  gone  Micky  said  to  Fred  that  Ed 
would  make  a  great  lawyer  some  day,  as  he  knew  how 
to  give  advice  in  carload  lots. 

Statement  for  Week  Ending  March  26, 

Amount  of  capital  invested $0.08 

Net  cash  profits  at  end  of  third  week 7.01 

Total  cash  on  hand  commencement  of  fourth 

week $7.09 

Deduct  purchases: 

7  reams  damaged  tissue-paper. ...  $1.00 
Less  2  per  cent,  for  cash 02     .98 

200  spools  damaged  thread .50 

Legal  services  to  Ed  Webster,  with 

Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts .05 

4  candles  for  cellar .08       1.61 

Cash  on  hand  after  purchases. ...  $5 .48 


PROSPERING.  71 

Sold  52  dozen  kites  at  18  cents. .  .   $9.36 

Less  25  per  cent 2.34  7.02 


Total  cash  on  hand  end  of  fourth  week $12.50 

Less  capital  invested .08 


Total  cash  profit  of  business  to  date $12.42 

On  hand : 
13,306  sticks, 
28^  pounds  flour, 
i  candle, 
4  box  blacking,' 
2081  sheets  tissue-paper, 
i  lot  of  scrap  tissue-paper. 

Sally  felt  the  weight  of  responsibility  in  carrying 
so  much  money,  so  she  told  her  teacher  on  Monday 
morning  about  the  funds  of  the  firm.  Her  teacher 
advised  her  to  put  $10  of  it  in  the  savings  institution, 
and  said  she  knew  the  president  of  the  bank  and  would 
stop  with  her  at  noon  and  introduce  her,  having  her 
open  an  account  #nd  deposit  the  money. 

Sally  was  quite  impressed  with  the  silence  prevailing 
in  the  great  bank ;  all  was  quiet,  excepting  the  clinking 
and  echoing  of  the  coin  as  it  was  being  counted.  The 
president  said  something  quietly  to  a  clerk,  who  took 
Sally  to  a  counter,  and  the  clerk  spoke  quietly  to  an- 
other clerk,  who  looked  up  calmly  from  his  big  ledger, 
and  this  second  clerk  quietly  beckoned  her  to  follow 
him,  and  they  walked  on  a  rubber  carpet  in  the  most 
quiet  manner  possible  to  a  third  clerk,  who  quietly 
asked  her  name.  Sally  said  her  name  was  Sarah 
Matilda  Flynn,  and  he  handed  her  a  pen  and  book  in 
which  to  sign  her  name  to  show  her  style  of  hand- 
writing or  signature;  it  was  a  gold  pen,  and  glided 
over  the  paper  without  the  least  noise.  Sally  was  then 
quietly  conducted  to  a  fourth  clerk,  who  quietly  took 


72  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

her  money  and  very  quietly  counted  it  and  laid  it  away 
in  a  drawer,  and  then  a  fifth  clerk  quietly  wrote  some- 
thing in  a  little  book  and  quietly  handed  it  to  Sally, 
who  stood  awed  and  half  frightened  at  the  quietness, 
being  almost  afraid  to  breathe  for  fear  of  disturbing 
the  etiquette.  She  quietly  walked  out  of  the  bank  and 
wondered  what  the  quietness  was  for,  and  gave  a  loud 
sigh  when  she  reached  the  sidewalk  and  asked  her 
teacher  what  it  was  all  about.  Miss  Baker,  her 
teacher,  explained  everything  satisfactorily,  and  when 
she  reached  home  she  told  Micky  about  it,  who  got 
quite  excited  and  dreadfully  alarmed  that  their  money 
was  gone,  and  wasn't  a  bit  satisfied  with  a  little  book 
that  was  only  worth  ten  cents  "  fur  der  security ;" 
indeed,  he  was  inconsolable  until  Ed  came  in  in 
the  evening,  examined  the  book,  and  explained  that 
the  money  was  safe  and  everything  all  right,  with  the 
exception  that  Sally  should  have  signed  the  word 
trustee  after  her  name;  but  as  it  was  now  done  that 
way  there  was  no  necessity  of  changing  it,  as  he  could 
make  it  all  right  by  having  Sally  sign  an  acknowledg- 
ment. So  he  sat  down  and  wrote  out  a  paper,  stating 
that  the  money  was  in  trust  for  account  of  Messrs. 
Flynn  &  Schmidt,  and  that  she  would  well  and  faith- 
fully hold  the  same  subject  to  their  order.  Sally  signed 
the  paper. 


CHAPTER    XL 

A    GREAT    LAW    OFFICE. 

THE  law  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  was 
known  far  and  wide  in  our  own  land  and  also  in  Europe, 
Asia,  and  Polynesia.  There  were  forty-seven  persons 
connected  with  the  office,  eighteen  of  whom,  besides 
the  three  principals,  being  practising  lawyers,  making 
twenty-one  in  all  who  appeared  in  the  courts ;  the  other 
twenty-six  were  clerks. 

It  was  a  most  orderly  and  systematic  law  firm  and 
divided  into  departments  or  specialties.  There  were 
lawyers  who  attended  to  nothing  else  but  corporation 
affairs,  others  to  insurance  cases,  others  to  real  estate, 
others  to  surrogate  details  and  estates,  and  so  on 
through  the  general  division  of  practice.  It  was  a 
proud  moment  for  any  of  the  boys  and  young  men  who 
entered  the  office  when  his  name  was  written  on  the 
great  ledger  as  a  participator  in  the  profits  of  the  con- 
cern. 

The  clerks'  salaries  were  charged  under  one  heading, 
called  expense  account,  none  of  their  names  ever  ap- 
pearing in  the  sacred  pages  of  the  great  ledger;  but 
when  at  last  they  were  promoted  to  the  dignity  of  an 


74  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

associate,  and  had  a  clientage  from  which  fees  were 
received,  then  the  index  to  the  ledger  was  embellished 
with  one  more  name  for  reference,  and  the  object  and 
aim  of  a  cherished  ambition  was  realized. 

Ed  Webster  wras  the  last  employe  engaged.  He  had 
been  faithfully  at  his  post  for  fourteen  months  and 
never  missed  a  single  day,  and  had  been  actually 
known  to  keep  on  steadily  writing  at  his  desk  while 
the  band  went  marching  by. 

Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  had  seldom  come  into 
contact  with  Ed,  and  upon  the  few  occasions  he 
was  summoned  to  their  private  rooms  he  went  into 
their  presence  with  as  profound  respect  and  awe  as  that 
with  which  a  Hindoo  would  enter  the  inner  dungeon 
containing  the  sealed  and  sacred  emblem  of  the  sub- 
lime essence  of  the  great  unknown. 

Monday  was  pay-day  for  the  clerks,  and  before  the 
rolls  were  completed  Ed  walked  up  to  the  chief  clerk 
and  without  saying  a  word  handed  him  the  five  cents 
received  from  Messrs.  Flynn  &  Schmidt,  accompany- 
ing it  with  a  neatly  written  duplicate  or  memorandum 
of  the  bill  he  had  receipted  for  to  his  clients. 

The  chief  clerk,  sitting  on  his  high  stool,  first  looked 
down  at  Ed  for  a  few  seconds  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  What  do  you  want,  sir  ?"  then  at  the  five-cent  piece 
as  much  as  to  say,  "  What  is  this,  sir?"  and  then  at  the 
paper  as  much  as  to  say,  "  Who  sent  it?"  and  then  he 
slowly  read  it,  after  which  he  took  off  his  eyeglasses, 
slowly  wiped  them  with  the  corner  of  his  handkerchief, 
and  re-read  the  paper.  He  stared  with  a  blank  expres- 
sion at  the  wall  in  front  of  him,  then  he  looked  at  Ed 
once  more,  and  then  at  the  five-cent  piece.  His  face 
clouded,  and  a  bewildered  expression  seized  him.  He 
put  down  his  pen,  and  after  again  reading  the  memo- 
randum he  scratched  his  bald  head  with  the  tip  end 
of  the  nail  of  the  little  finger  of  his  left  hand,  and 
abruptly  asked  in  a  withering  tone,  "  What  do  you 


A    GREAT    LAW    OFFICE.  75 

mean,  sir,  by  this  ?  Who  are  Flynn  &  Schmidt  ?  What 
is  this  five  cents  for,  sir?" 

Ed  explained  the  situation  in  as  few  words  as  possi- 
ble, but  by  the  time  he  was  through  the  chief  clerk  was 
almost  "  wilted,"  and  all  Ed  could  hear  was  a  sort  of 
slow  gasping  out  of  the  two  words,  "  five  cents." 

The  chief  clerk  had  been  at  that  desk  for  over 
twenty-two  years,  and  had  never  seen  a  new  firm's 
name  or  a  client's  of  any  kind  entered  on  their  books 
without  a  retaining  fee  of  at  least  $1000;  and  to  have 
an  individual  or  firm  get  legal  advice  for  five  cents  for 
a  whole  month  from  one  in  any  manner  of  remote  con- 
nection with  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  nearly  took 
away  the  little  blood  that  still  remained  in  his  cheeks. 

He  did  not  say  another  word  for  five  minutes,  but 
silently  gazed  at  Ed  with  an  expression  as  much  as  to 
say  "  God  help  us !"  Then  he  told  Ed  to  take  a  seat, 
and  he  started  off  toward  the  private  rooms  of  Lincoln, 
Seward  &  Evarts. 

Ten  minutes  passed,  which  seemed  like  ten  hours  to 
Ed,  when  suddenly  all  three  of  the  senior  partners 
came  with  the  chief  clerk  to  the  door  of  the  room,  and, 
standing  in  the  hallway  for  a  minute,  gazed  in  at  Ed 
with  as  solemn  faces  as  if  they  were  looking  for  the 
first  time  into  the  open  gate  of  a  Parsee's  tower  of 
silence.  Ed  immediately  stood  up  in  their  presence 
and  returned  their  gaze  without  shrinking.  It  was  the 
first  time  the  senior  partners  had  really  ever  taken 
notice  of  him,  and  his  erect,  slim  little  form,  with  his 
white  cheeks,  deep,  flashing  black  eyes,  heavy  eye- 
brows, and  tall,  narrow  forehead,  rather  impressed  the 
onlookers,  and  then  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  two  partners 
went  in  and  kindly  asked  Ed  all  about  Flynn  &  Schmidt 
and  the  five  cents. 

Ed  gave  a  detailed  and  graphic  account  of  his  entire 
connection  with  that  firm,  and  explained  that  his 
charge  of  five  cents  was  made  at  a  time  when  their 


76  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

entire  capital  was  only  eight  cents,  and  he  thought  that 
that  proportion  of  their  assets  was  as  much  as  a  lawyer 
could  conscientiously  ask.  When  Ed  had  finished 
Mr.  Lincoln  told  him  to  fetch  the  documents  that  he 
had  drawn  for  Flynn  &  Schmidt,  as  it  was  a  rule  of 
the  office  that  one  of  the  three  senior  partners  or  the 
head  of  a  department  should  see  all  papers  before 
delivery.  Then  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  went  back 
to  the  last  gentleman's  room,  and  after  closing  the 
door,  so  that  no  one  could  see  them,  they  smiled  on 
one  another  for  the  first  time  in  three  years.  Without 
saying  a  word  they  once  more  knitted  their  brows  in 
unison,  and  silently  returned  to  their  respective  rooms 
to  their  serious  and  solemn  duties. 

In  the  afternoon  Ed  brought  the  documents  and  all 
the  papers  and  gave  them  to  the  chief  clerk  .to  hand  to 
Mr.  Lincoln,  who  next  morning  told  Ed  to  bring  down 
his  clients  at  five  o'clock  that  evening,  as  he  wanted 
to  make  their  acquaintance. 

Flynn  &  Schmidt  made  their  appearance  at  five 
o'clock  prompt.  Their  shoes  were  shining  and  both 
looked  clean  and  self-possessed.  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts  had  half  an  hour's  conversation  with  the  kite 
firm,  and  requested  them  to  send  all  of  their  various 
weekly  statements  for  inspection,  since  they  were  par- 
ticular as  to  whom  they  had  for  clients,  and  desired  to 
know  something  about  their  business  ability  and  finan- 
cial standing.  Fred  was  much  pleased  that  his  book- 
keeping statements  were  going  to  be  read  by  such  great 
men,  and  promised  to  send  them  next  morning,  which 
he  did. 

Ed  presented  them,  and  all  four  papers  were  read. 
Mr.  Evarts  called  the  chief  clerk  and  told  him,  in  front 
of  Ed,  to  enter  the  name  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  on  the 
books  as  clients,  and  Mr.  Seward  told  him  to  place  the 
five  cents  to  Flynn  &  Schmidt's  credit  and  charge  up 
the  memorandum  for  services,  entering  the  name  of 


A    GREAT    LAW    OFFICE.  77 

Edward  Webster  on  the  ledger  for  participation  in 
profits.  The  chief  clerk  nearly  collapsed  at  this  last 
order,  but  did  as  he  was  bidden.  Ed  was  then  told  by 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  take  charge  of  the  legal  affairs  of  Flynn 
&  Schmidt  and  report  to  him  as  things  progressed. 

Thus  was  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  received  as 
clients  by  the  great  law  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts.  The  clerks  treated  it  as  a  great  joke,  but  they 
could  never  tell  from  a  word,  look,  or  gesture  whether 
the  senior  partners  considered  it  a  joke  or  not.  All  the 
clerks  knew  was  that  the  three  famous  lawyers  seemed 
to  be  more  interested  in  the  affairs  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt 
than  in  those  of  any  other  firm  or  individual  on  their 
books. 

Each  of  the  twenty-one  lawyers  in  the  great  office 
had  his  own  private  room ;  on  the  outside  of  the  door 
was  the  last  name  of  the  occupant  with  simply  the 
abbreviation  "  Mr."  in  front  of  it.  It  was  Mr.  Jones 
or  Mr.  Smith  or  Mr.  Brown. 

Ed  had  a  humble  little  desk  in  a  corner  of  the  great 
entrance  room,  and  one  afternoon  when  he  arrived 
later  than  usual  from  dinner  he  found  that  the  clerks 
as  a  joke  had  pasted  on  the  side  of  his  desk  a  neat, 
white  piece  of  paper,  on  which  was  printed  in  plain 
letters  "  Mr.  Webster."  Ed  gave  it  one  glance,  and 
then  without  changing  a  muscle  of  his  face  moved  or 
altered  the  position  of  his  desk  so  the  name  could  be 
more  plainly  seen  from  the  entrance  door.  He  then 
took  off  his  hat,  hung  it  in  its  proper  place,  and  as  if 
nothing  unusual  had  happened,  sat  down  at  his  desk, 
and  without  looking  up  busied  himself  with  folding 
the  letters  and  papers  that  were  under  his  care. 

Ed  had  always  been  quiet,  gentlemanly,  accommo- 
dating, silent,  prompt,  and  obedient,  and  all  the  clerks 
treated  him  kindly,  and  among  themselves  respected 
his  demeanor  and  unusual  precocity ;  for  although 
smaller  and  younger  than  any  one  of  the  clerks,  he 


78  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

knew  more  of  Greek  and  Latin  than  many  of  the  oldest 
of  them,  and  spent  most  of  his  spare  time  in  reading 
books  on  political  economy.  In  addition,  he  was  going 
through  "  Blackstone"  for  the  eighth  time,  and  seemed 
as  much  interested  in  it  as  the  rest  of  the  boys  were  in 
baseball,  of  which  he  knew  nothing  and  cared  less. 

The  clerks  were  watching  Ed  as  he  entered  the  office 
that  day,  when  he  saw  for  the  first  time  his  name  in 
print  on  his  desk,  and  all  enjoyed  the  matter-of-course 
way  in  which  he  accepted  it.  From  that  hour  every 
employe  in  the  place  called  him  "  Mr.  Webster,"  which 
name  he  responded  to  with  as  much  promptness  and 
apparent  unconcern  as  he  formerly  did  to  the  simple 
summons  of  "  Ed." 

In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  the  whole  details  of  his 
connection  with  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  became 
common  gossip  in  the  office,  and  gradually  as  the  weeks 
and  months  and  years  rolled  by  the  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  Ed's  clients  increased  among  the  clerks, 
until  the  morning  papers  had  not  half  as  much  attrac- 
tion for  them  as  had  the  latest  news  from  Flynn  & 
Schmidt. 

Secrecy  was  the  corner-stone  of  the  rules  regulating 
the  great  law  office,  and  when  one's  affairs  were  once 
committed  to  its  keeping  they  were  as  safely  guarded 
from  the  public  as  are  the  precious  diamonds  in  the 
Tower  of  London.  No  matter  how  great  or  small  the 
nature  of  the  business  was,  it  was  sacredly  pigeon- 
holed in  the  breasts  of  the  employes,  and  so  while  the 
affairs  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  were  common  gossip 
among  the  clerks  on  the  inside,  they  were  an  unknown 
quantity,  as  far  as  they  were  concerned,  to  all  the  rest 
of  the  world. 

Ed  made  no  mention  to  Micky,  Fred,  or  Sally  about 
the  transaction  regarding  his  name  being  entered  in 
the  great  ledger,  since  it  would  detract  from  his  past 
greatness  in  their  estimation,  for  they  had  not  a  single 


A    GREAT    LAW    OFFICE.  79 

thought  but  that  he  was  and  had  all  along  been  the 
confidential  adviser  and  managing  director  of  the 
whole  law  firm. 

The  only  person  to  whom  Ed  confided  the  incident 
was  his  mother,  who  was  still  patiently  singing  the 
song  of  the  shirt,  with  its  stitch,  stitch,  stitch,  to  pay 
the  rent  of  their  rooms;  but  she  did  it  sweetly  and 
hopefully,  feeling  in  her  heart  that  there  was  to  be 
a  great  future  for  her  gifted  and  only  child;  and  while 
sewing,  when  Ed  was  with  her,  she  never  lost  a  minute 
in  helping  him  with  his  home  studies  in  his  preparation 
for  college.  That  was  now  the  ambition  of  her  life, 
and  when  she  would  lay  herself  down  to  sleep  she 
dreamed  by  night,  as  she  dreamed  by  day,  of  her  noble 
ancestry  and  of  her  abiding  confidence  that  "  blood 
would  tell." 


CHAPTER    XII. 

GENIUS. 

WHEN  Ed  arrived  at  the  cellar  in  the  evening  he 
found  Micky,  Fred,  and  Sally  discussing  lawyers, 
doctors,  an.d  other  professional  people.  The  question 
was  why  some  people  must  work  hard  all  day  and 
receive  so  very  little  money  for  it  and  almost  starve, 
while  others,  like  the  lawyers,  didn't  work  at  all,  but 
just  sat  down  and  did  nothing  but  talk  all  day,  and 
received  more  for  it  than  the  hardest  workingman. 
Sally  said  it  was  not  only  the  lawyers  and  doctors  who 
did  not  work,  but  that  the  storekeepers  did  nothing 
either,  and  she  wanted  to  know  why  one  person  in  the 
world  was  not  obliged  to  work  as  hard  as  another. 

When  Ed  put  in  an  appearance  they  laid  the  matter 
before  him.  After  thinking  for  five  minutes  he  said : 
"  Now,  you  see,  it  is  just  this  way ;  you  know  I  told 
you  the  other  day  about  how  the  value  of  anything 
was  the  number  of  days'  labor  put  into  the  thing,  and 
how  the  wood-chopper  and  sawmill  man  first  gave 
value  to  the  boards,  and  about  the  man  who  went  to 
the  carpenter  for  a  table  that  had  cost  him  $20,  the 
whole  ol  the  $20  representing  labor.  Suppose  that 
customer  was  obliged  to  go  to  another  carpenter  and 


GENIUS.  8 1 

see  his  style  of  tables.  If  he  did  not  like  the  ones  there, 
he  must  go  to  another  carpenter,  and  so  on  to  a  dozen 
carpenters,  so  that  before  he  knew  it  he  had  spent  a 
whole  day  away  from  his  work  looking  for  a  table. 
Still  after  all  his  trouble  he  might  not  find  the  kind 
he  wanted ;  it  was  not  to  be  found.  At  the  last  place 
the  carpenter  told  him  that  no  one  in  Cincinnati  made 
the  kind  of  table  he  wanted,  and  that  all  such  tables 
were  manufactured'  by  a  man  in  St.  Louis  at  about 
$20  apiece.  Therefore,  if  the  customer  must  have 
what  he  wanted,  he  would  be  obliged  to  wait  and  have 
one  made  in  Cincinnati  or  write  to  St.  Louis,  or  spend 
a  day  in  going  there,  with  no  certainty  of  being  suited, 
which  would  cost  him  $25  railroad  fare.  By  the  time 
he  would  finally  get  his  table  from  St.  Louis  it  would 
cost  him  $50,  instead  of  the  $20,  which  was  all  that  it 
was  worthuin  days'  labor  in  Cincinnati  or  St.  Louis. 

"  Now  a  certain  man  named  Smith  finds  out  about 
the  trouble  it  has  caused  the  customer  to  get  the  kind 
of  table  he  wanted,  and  he  also  knows  that  many  other 
people  are  having  the  same  kind  of  bother,  so  he  says 
to  himself :  '  I  think  I  will  get  a  room  and  call  it  a 
furniture  store,  and  put  in  it  all  the  twenty-five  differ- 
ent kinds  of  tables  that  are  made  by  various  carpenters. 
Then  if  any  person  wants  a  table  of  any  style  or  pat- 
tern, he  can  come  to  my  store,  and  in  ten  minutes'  time 
pick  out  anything  he  fancies  of  all  the  different  makes. 
I  will  thus  save  him  the  trouble  of  hunting  up  all  the 
makers  in  Cincinnati,  and  so  losing  a  day  from  his 
work  or  of  going  on  that  expensive  trip  to  St.  Louis.' 

"  Now,  if  Mr.  Smith  were  a  very  rich  man,  willingly 
paying  rent  for  a  store  and  staying  there  year  after 
year  while  gathering  together  a  hundred  different 
varieties  of  tables  to  exhibit  and  sell  them  to  people, 
charging  the  customers  $20  apiece,  just  what  they  cost 
him,  he  would  be  a  very  kind-hearted  man,  and  people 
would  call  him  a  philanthropist.  Storekeepers,  how- 


82  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

ever,  do  not  do  such  things.  They  have  children  to 
support,  food  to  buy,  and  clothes  to  purchase,  and  they 
must  make  money  to  pay  for  such  things,  just  the  same 
as  a  mechanic  has  to  support  his  family. 

"  So  Mr.  Smith,  having  very  little  money,  goes  to 
each  one  of  the  carpenters  and  says :  *  Send  me  down 
to  my  new  store  one  of  your  tables;  and  if  you  will 
trust  me,  I  will  pay  you  for  it  when  it  is  sold.'  All  the 
carpenters  consider  Mr.  Smith  a*i  honest  man,  and 
they  do  as  he  requests;  and  at  last  he  has  a  hundred 
tables  of  all  varieties  of  patterns,  sizes,  and  styles  for 
sale,  which  are  advertised  in  the  papers.  He  sells  ten 
tables  the  first  day,  and  says :  '  I  have  saved  all  these 
people  a  lot  of  time  in  going  around  and  hunting  up 
carpenters,  so  I  will  for  my  time  and  trouble  charge 
them  $22  apiece  for  the  tables  that  have  cost  me  $20 
each;'  and  thus  Mr.  Smith  makes  $2  per  table,  or  $20 
profit  on  the  ten  tables.  Out  of  this  profit  he  has  to 
pay  rent  and  advertising  and  other  expenses,  with 
a  little  gain  left  to  support  and  clothe  his  children; 
but  for  the  day  he  saves  $2  or  $3  out  of  it  all  and 
puts  it  in  the  bank,  and  when  three  or  four  years  have 
passed,  if  he  has  been  a  saving  man,  he  will  probably 
have  $1000  put  aside,  and  with  that  money  he  can  go 
to  all  the  carpenters  and  pay  for  all  the  tables  as  he 
gets  them  without  asking  to  be  trusted.  Then  he  pos- 
sesses something  of  his  own. 

"  It  is  the  same  way  with  your  kite  business ;  you 
are  not  making  tables,  but  you  are  by  your  labor 
making  kites.  You  go  to  the  grocery  store  and  sell 
them  for  eighteen  cents  a  dozen,  the  grocers  sell  them 
again  for  twenty-four  cents  per  dozen.  The  grocery- 
men  thus  make  for  themselves  six  cents  per  dozen,  or 
twenty-five  per  cent,  on  the  sales,  or,  as  some  people 
would  say,  thirty-three  and  one-third  per  cent,  on  the 
cost  price.  You  thus  place  your  kites  all  over  the  city  in 
the  various  groceries,  some  of  them  two  or  three  miles 


GENIUS.  83 

away  from  your  factory,  and  the  little  boys  in  those 
neighborhoods  can  go  down  to  their  corner  and  get 
one;  but  if  the  grocery-men  did  not  keep  them  on  hand, 
then  some  little  boy  who  wanted  a  kite  would  have  to 
ride  on  the  street  cars  all  the  way  up  to  your  factory 
to  get  one,  and  it  would  thus  cost  him  five  cents  fare 
uptown  and  five  cents  back,  or  a  total  expense  of  ten 
cents  carfare  to  go  and  buy  a  two-cent  kite.  Thus, 
you  see  that  stores  "are  necessary  to  have  all  around, 
so  that  people  can  have  things  handy.  The  man  that 
keeps  the  store  is  doing  a  service  for  other  people  by 
putting  in  his  time  and  capital  to  do  it,  although  he  is 
not  working  hard  with  his  hands  like  the  blacksmith; 
still,  he  spends  his  whole  lifetime  in  thinking  and  find- 
ing out  the  best  things  to  have  on  hand  to  suit  and 
please  his  customers;  and  if  he  is  foolish  enough  to 
overcharge,  his  customers  will  go  to  some  other  store 
where  they  will  sell  cheaper,  and  he  will  lose  business. 
Thus  competition,  honest  or  dishonest,  is  the  thing 
that  keeps  the  prices  down. 

"  Just  as  long  as  boys  want  kites  and  you  have  no 
competitor  in  the  kite  business  you  can  keep  on  charg- 
ing a  retail  price  of  two  cents  apiece ;  but  if  any  other 
boy  or  boys  go  into  the  business  and  make  them 
cheaper  or  are  willing  to  take  less  profit,  then  you  will 
have  to  come  down  in  your  price  or  go  into  another 
business  or  support  yourselves  in  other  ways. 

"  By  this  plan  of  men  keeping  stores  and  bringing 
things  from  all  parts  of  the  earth,  it  saves  your  mother 
the  trouble  of  going  all  the  way  to  far-off  China  to 
get  a  pound  of  tea,  or  to  Brazil  to  get  a  pound  of  coffee, 
or  you  yourselves  walking  five  miles  out  in  the  country 
every  morning  to  get  a  pint  of  milk.  All  men  who 
engage  in  this  kind  of  business  are  doing  a  service  for 
others,  and  get  their  pay  by  adding  a  little  for  their 
labor  or  services  to  the  price  of  the  original  .articles. 
All  things  cost  nothing  in  their  original  form;  man 


84  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

labors  or  '  presses  the  button/  and  nature  '  does  the 
rest;'  and  man  only  changes  or  prepares  for  the 
changes,  or  profits  by  the  changes  of  every  article  used 
that  originally  costs  the  world  nothing  and  was  given 
by  nature. 

"  It  is  on  the  same  principle  that  you  ask  for  the 
services  of  doctors  and  lawyers  and  ministers.  If  you 
get  nearly  killed  or  are  dying  with  some  disease,  you 
want  some  one  to  help  you  at  once ;  and  I  am  sure  if 
you  were  dying,  you  would  not  send  for  a  boiler-maker 
or  a  kite-maker  to  hasten  to  your  bedside;  but  you 
would  want  some  person  to  come  who  knew  something 
about  sickness  and  medicine. 

"  In  order  to  help  people  who  are  suffering  with 
disease,  some  boys  when  they  are  as  young  as  we  are 
make  up  their  minds  to  be  doctors,  so  they  study  all 
kinds  of  books  that  help  them  to  understand  the  body 
and  its  diseases.  The  boys  grow  up  to  be  men,  and 
have  knowledge  regarding  these  ailments.  Conse- 
quently, when  you  are  sick  you  do  not  send  for  the 
boiler-maker  or  the  kite-maker,  but  you  want  the  doctor 
to  come  right  off,  and  you  want  him  awful  quick,  too. 
Doctors  are  not  all  rich.  They  have  to  live  and  they 
need  things  to  eat  and  wear  for  themselves  and  their 
families.  They,  therefore,  charge  you  for  their  labors, 
which  they  call  services. 

"  In  the  same  way,  if  you  get  into  difficulty  or  dis- 
putes with  people,  or  one  man  wrongs  another,  or  you 
want  something  done  correctly  and  right  about  prop- 
erty that  you  own,  at'  such  a  time  you  certainly  would 
not  go  to  a  match-stick  maker  or  to  a  flour  dealer 
or  to  a  blacksmith ;  but  you  would  want  to  have  a  man 
who  has  studied  all  his  life  about  how  disputes  should 
be  settled,  or,  better  still,  a  man  who  can  show  you 
how  to  prevent  disputes.  Thus,  you  go  to  a  lawyer, 
who  has  himself  and  his  family  to  support ;  but  he 
cannot  afford  to  do  things  for  nothing,  and  so  he  has 


GENIUS.  85 

to  be  paid.  All  these  bills  in  the  end  must  be  added 
to  the  cost  of  all  the  things  that  are  manufactured,  and 
represent  so  much  for  labor  or  services,  the  same  as 
the  work  done  by  the  carpenter  or  the  man  who 
chopped  down  the  trees  in  the  forest.  In  some  way  or 
other,  that  you  must  carefully  and  consecutively  think 
out  in  its  complications,  the  '  fee'  gets  onto  the  '  cost' 
and  is  added  to  the  price  of  the  things  which  nature  at 
first  gives  free  to  mankind." 

To  Sally's  question,  why  it  was  that  one  person  has 
to  work  harder  than  another,  Ed  said:  ''That  is 
a  very  hard  question  to  answer.  If  every  person  in  the 
world  were  poor  to-day,  and  all  had  to  commence  life 
over  again,  then  there  would  be  some  people  who  were 
smarter  than  others,  because  they  were  born  so  or 
helped  to  make  themselves  so;  and  in  twenty  years' 
time  some  men  would  be  lawyers,  some  doctors,  some 
merchants,  and  some  laboring  men.  Whatever  a  man 
is  best  fitted  for  he  would  soon  drift  into,  thus  finding 
his  level;  but  some  men  would  be  more  saving,  and 
before  long  would  be  richer  than  others.  Then  they 
would  be  able  to  pick  and  choose  their  employment  or 
profession;  but  even  if  they  were  rich,  and  could  be 
doctors  or  lawyers  or  merchants  at  their  own  sweet 
will  or  choosing,  still  they  could  not  make  themselves 
great.  Greatness  is  born  in  a  person,  and  just  as  sure 
as  one  and  one  make  two,  just  so  sure  will  the  poorest 
as  well  as  the  richest  boys  who  have  genius  grow  up  and 
pass  all  others  in  every  department  of  life,  whether 
the  competitors  are  smart,  skilful,  or  stupid  workmen, 
or  whether  they  are  millionaire  merchants  or  far-famed 
professional  men.  Every  one  will  sooner  or  later  get 
to  his  level  of  capacity.  It  is  genius  that  permanently 
commands,  and  genius  ever  courts  infinite  pains  and 
hard  work. 

"  Many  persons  get  started  wrong.  All  around  us 
in  the  world  are  blacksmiths  who  ought  to  be  ministers, 


86  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

and  ministers  who  ought  to  be  blacksmiths ;  yet  neither 
the  minister  nor  the  blacksmith  should  complain.  If 
he  had  genius,  he  would  surmount  difficulties  in  some 
manner  and  be  great  to  a  considerable  degree  in  what- 
ever he  undertakes.  A  successful  minister  would  be 
a  successful  blacksmith,  and  a  poor  minister  a  poor 
blacksmith,  and  vice  versa.  Possibly  he  might  stumble 
into  riches  or  greatness,  but  the  untiring  spirit  of 
genius  that  never  slumbers  is  the  force  that  lifts  one 
man  above  another. 

"  The  great  trouble  in  the  business  world  is  that 
men  do  not  know  that  mankind  is  divided  into  three 
classes.  First,  those  who  can  work  for  themselves; 
second,  those  who  are  only  adapted  to  work  for  others, 
and  third,  those  who  are  not  good  for  anything.  The 
first  are  born  to  command  and  direct,  the  second  to 
follow  and  obey;  and  when  the  first  and  second  find 
themselves  in  reverse  positions,  it  is  inevitable  that 
sooner  or  later  they  will  change  places,  and  the  first  two 
classes  must  take  care  of  and  support  the  third  class, 
who  are  tramps,  criminals,  unfortunates,  or  incapables. 

"  Remember,"  concluded  Ed,  "  what  I  have  said 
about  genius ;  and  I  will  here  repeat  it,  that  the  untir- 
ing spirit  of  genius  that  never  slumbers  is  the  force 
that  lifts  one  man  above  another  to  his  inborn  special- 
ty; and  whether  he  be  a  minister  or  a  blacksmith,  a 
merchant  or  a  mechanic,  if  he  has  genius  within  him, 
he  will  make  history  within  his  environments,  instead 
of  simply  reading  or  writing  it." 

When  Ed  had  finished  they  all  sat  silently  for  a  few 
minutes.  Then  Sally  said :  "  Ed,  I  think  you  have 
genius  to  be  the  greatest  of  lawyers  away  up  at  the  top 
of  the  ladder ;"  and  Micky  said :  "  Fred,  I  think  you 
have  undreamed-of  genius  to  make  you  the  greatest 
financier  and  accountant  that  ever  lived."  And  Fred 
said :  "  Micky,  I  think  you  have  the  most  remarkable 
genius  ever  born  in  any  man  for  organization  and 


GENIUS.  87 

accumulating  and  directing,  and  I  am  willing  to  be 
directed  if  you  will  do  the  directing."  And  Micky 
said :  "  Fred,  I  will  do  as  you  say,  but  I  am  not  willing 
to  direct  anything  without  first  advising  with  our 
counsellor;"  and  then  Ed  said:  "  I  agree  with  you  that 
both  of  you  have  the  genius  of  which  the  other  speaks, 
and  am  sure  you  have  qualifications  to  impel  and  com- 
pel you  to  rise  in  the  business  world;  and  I  offer  you 
my  professional  services  in  your  enterprises  and  take 
your  case;  but,  gentlemen,"  said  Ed,  "  I  never  read  of 
a  case  where  there  was  not  a  woman  in  it,  and  Sally 
shall  be  the  woman,  for  she  has  genius  for  banking, 
and  she  shall  be  the  custodian  of  the  funds." 

And  Fred  said  that  Sally  would  not  only  be  a  banker, 
but  a  great  lady,  and  some  day  be  mistress  of  the 
White  House. 

Then  Micky  slowly  and  earnestly  said :  "  Den  if  we 
has  between  us  der  korner  on  genius  like  that,  den  why 
kant  we  fellers  just  skoop  in  der  whole  earth?" 

And  they  did  it. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE    THREE    KINGDOMS. 

IF  we  of  the  present  could  have  lived  five  thousand 
years  ago,  we  should  not  have  had  to  study  hard  or  to 
apply  ourselves  intensely  to  learn  or  master  pretty 
nearly  all  there  was  known  that  was  of  practical  value ; 
but  during  the  centuries  that  have  since  intervened 
a  vast  fund  of  information  has  been  accumulated — 
a  terror  to  the  schoolboy  of  to-day  who  is  indifferent 
to  a  college  course,  but  a  maze  of  anticipation  to  the 
aspiring  youth  who  desires  to  grasp  what  is  at  hand 
and  push  into  the  jungles  and  mysteries  of  the  great 
unknown. 

It  is  of  no  use  to  try  and  shove  forward  a  young 
person  who  has  no  ambition  or  inclination  in  that 
direction.  He  will  gravitate  to  his  own  level  without 
effort;  and  per  contra,  genius  will  surmount  every 
obstacle  that  stands  in  its  pathway. 

There  is  nothing  impossible  with  man  from  a  mate- 
rial point  of  view.  If  you  will  give  him  time  enough, 
he  will  at  last,  in  some  way,  master  the  difficult  prob- 
lem of  lifting  himself  over  the  fence  by  his  boot  straps, 
and  succeed  in  controlling  the  forces  of  the  solar 
system  to  such  an  extent  that  for  advantageous  pur- 


THE    THREE    KINGDOMS.  89 

poses  he  will  move  or  slightly  alter  the  swing  of  the 
earth  on  which  he  dwells  into  an  orbit  of  his  own 
selection. 

Every  well-conceived  plan  that  ever  succeeded  has 
had  its  beginnings  in  effort  of  some  kind ;  and  the 
greater  the  outcome,  the  greater  the  amount  of  energy 
back  of  it,  much  of  which  is  never  seen  on  the  surface. 

Enterprises  that  have  succeeded  in  our  own  day 
have  been  applauded  by  mankind,  and  the  master 
minds  have  been  honored  by  their  fellow-men.  No  one 
but  the  man  himself  knows  that  the  success  which  he 
achieved  was  the  result  of  silent,  patient,  persistent 
work,  or  an  ever-increasing  application  toward  a  cher- 
ished end. 

Messrs.  Flynn  &  Schmidt,  from  that  night  in  which 
"  genius"  was  recognized  and  conceded  to  each  other, 
spent  the  remainder  of  their  lives  in  one  continuous 
effort  after  information,  along  with  the  possession  of 
material  things;  and  one  of  the  simple  channels 
through  which  their  earlier  knowledge  was  garnered 
was  a  childish  game  or  pastime  indulged  in  while 
working  on  their  ever-increasing  orders  for  kites. 

It  was  the  game  of  the  "  Three  Kingdoms."  Ed 
told  them  that  everything  on  the  face  of  the  earth  was 
either  animal,  vegetable,  or  mineral ;  and  that  all  we 
ate,  drank,  wore,  handled,  bought,  or  sold  was  com- 
posed of  one  or  more  of  "  these  three  kingdoms." 
Man  took  these  things  that  nature  gave  free,  and 
manufactured  or  made  or  transmuted  them  into  other 
shapes  and  sizes  and  forms ;  and  the  labor  which  man 
puts  on  all  these  things  gives  them  intrinsic  value.  If 
they  would  look  at  any  object  around  them,  and  learn 
from  what  it  was  made,  how  it  was  manufactured, 
how  much  of  it  there  was  to  be  had,  and  whether  it 
was  made  by  common  workmen  or  skilful  artisans, 
then  they  could,  as  soon  as  they  saw  the  object,  guess 
just  about  what  it  was  worth.  If  they  could  do  that, 


QO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

they  would  never  get  cheated  during  their  lifetime, 
and  would  have  sound  ideas  as  to  the  money  value  of 
objects. 

The  game  or  pastime  was  as  follows:  Ed  secretly 
thought  of  something,  desiring  his  companions  to 
guess  what  it  was.  He  was  then  asked  if  it  was 
animal,  vegetable,  or  mineral ;  he  replied,  "  mineral" 
(if  such  was  the  case).  Is  it  in  "America"?  Yes. 
Is  it  in  Ohio?  Yes.  Is  it  in  Cleveland?  No.  Is  it 
here  in  Cincinnati?  Yes.  Is  it  downtown?  No.  Is 
it  uptown?  Yes.  Is  it  in  this  house?  Yes.  Is  it 
upstairs  ?  No.  Is  it  in  this  cellar  ?  Yes.  Is  it  on  the 
work  table?  No.  Is  it  on  the  floor?  No.  Is  it  on 
any  one  present?  Yes.  Is  it  on  Micky?  No.  Is  it 
on  Fred?  No.  Is  it  on  you  (Ed)?  No.  Is  it  on 
Sally?  Yes.  Is  it  on  her  dress?  No.  Is  it  on  her 
hand  ?  Yes.  Is  it  on  her  finger  ?  Yes.  Is  it  her  ring  ? 
Yes ;  and  then  when  they  had  •  thus  determined  the 
name  of  the  object,  it  was  Sally's  or  some  one  else's 
turn.  In  that  manner  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  things 
were  silently  thought  of  one  by  one,  and  guessed  by 
the  others. 

Simple  as  such  a  game  is,  how  few  people  there  are 
who  can  tell  offhand  from  what  kingdom  surrounding 
objects  are  derived?  The  first  real  dispute  they  had 
as  to  the  origin  of  an  article  was  "  indigo."  All  except 
Ed  said  it  was  a  mineral,  and  came  out  of  the  ground. 
He  was  not  sure,  and  said  he  would  look  in  the  encyclo- 
paedia next  day  and  find  out  positively ;  and  he  after- 
ward reported  that  it  was  "  vegetable,"  and  came  from 
the  sap  of  plants  in  India.  The  next  dispute  was  about 
"  alum,"  which  was  thought  to  come  out  of  some  bitter 
tree;  but  on  inquiry  it  was  found  to  be  mineral,  ex- 
tracted from  rock  or  shale.  They  learned  the  nature 
of  wearing  apparel,  and  had  disputes  as  to  whether  it 
was  asbestos,  cotton,  or  woollen ;  found  out  what  was 
the  nature  of  calico,  gingham,  silks,  velveteens,  crepe, 


THE    THREE    KINGDOMS.  QI 

etc. ;  differences  in  leather,  as  calf,  morocco,  kid,  patent 
leather,  etc.;  varieties  of  food  and  material,  such  as 
yeast,  baking  powder,  sugar,  mustard ;  nature  of  com- 
binations, such  as  brass,  steel,  solder,  etc.  It  was  a 
grand  schooling  for  them,  and  Ed  knew  so  much  that 
he  rose  higher  than  ever  in  their  estimation. 

A  piece  of  newspaper  caused  them  much  anxiety. 
Micky  said  "  he  thought  of  something,"  and  wanted 
them  to  guess  what  it  was.  It  proved  in  the  end  to  be 
the  ink  that  made  the  black  printing.  To  start  with, 
he  told  them  it  was  of  the  "  vegetable"  kingdom,  which 
in  the  end  caused  the  discussion.  Ed  settled  it  the 
next  evening  by  telling  them  that  newspaper  ink  was 
made  from  a  substance  known  as  "lampblack;"  but 
that  such  "  black"  could  be  made  from  either  the 
animal,  vegetable,  or  mineral  kingdom.  Bones  were 
burned  to  make  "  animal  black."  Wood  was  burned 
to  soot  for  "  vegetable  black,"  and  coal  or  petroleum 
was  burned  to  make  soot  for  "  mineral  black ;"  but  he 
had  found  out  that  "  mineral  black"  \vas  the  cheapest, 
and  he  presumed  the  paper  must  be  printed  with  ink 
made  from  mineral  black,  and  therefore  they  should 
class  it  in  the  mineral  kingdom. 

This  form  of  mental  amusement  gave  no  end  of 
variety  to  conversation,  but  it  became  more  interesting 
from  a  geographical  view-point.  Micky  and  Fred 
had  never  before  cared  for  geography;  but  now  they 
were  more  than  interested  in  the  countries  from  which 
things  came,  and  there  was  a  map  of  the  world  con- 
stantly on  the  work  table  before  them.  The  names  of 
cities  and  provinces  all  over  the  globe  became  familiar 
to  them,  and  when  the  map  became  soiled  Sally  made 
a  drawing  of  a  large  map  of  the  world.  Micky  had 
her  write  in  fine  print  in  the  different  parts  the  names 
of  the  things  that  came  from  each  country  that  were 
mined  or  produced  or  grew  there.  Ed  read  in  the 
encyclopaedia  about  the  low  wages  men  received  in 


92  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

different  parts  of  the  world.  They  were  all  astonished 
to  find  that  the  people  received  in  some  countries  only 
three  cents  a  day  for  working  thirteen  hours,  and  Ed 
said  he  hoped  those  people  would  never  make  kites  in 
that  place  and  send  them  to  Cincinnati  to  be  sold.  He 
asked  Sally  to  write  on  the  map  in  the  different  lands 
the  wages  the  natives  received,  and  all  were  wonder- 
fully pleased  to  find  that  the  people  in  the  United  States 
had  higher  wages  than  those  of  any  other  country. 

The  next  subject  they  "  switched"  to  was  the  routes 
by  which  goods  were  transported  from  one  country  to 
another.  These  were  the  kinds  of  ships,  railroads, 
camel  caravens,  wagon  trains,  mule  packs,  and  so  on. 

This  was  a  great  subject.  Sally  was  required  to 
draw  on  the  map  all  kinds  of  lines  to  show  the  paths  of 
steamships  and  other  modes  of  transportation,  and 
then  they  commenced  to  guess  or  estimate  as  best  they 
could  what  it  would  cost  for  freight  on  various  kinds 
of  merchandise  from  one  place  to  another.  After  in- 
forming themselves  in  all  these  subjects,  they  would 
figure  up  what  such  things  as  a  bag  of  coffee  or  one 
thousand  pounds  of  nutmegs  ought  to  be.  worth  in 
Cincinnati,  until  they  settled  the  values  of  nearly  every 
staple  product. 

They  figured  the  cost  to  the  planters  of  growing 
and  handling  coffee  in  Brazil  with  labor  at  twelve  cents 
a  day,  and  added  to  it  the  cost  of  a  bag  large  enough 
to  hold  one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds;  then  they 
placed  with  it  the  amount  the  merchants,  cartmen,  and 
porters  in  Brazil  wanted  for  their  labor  in  handling 
and  carrying  it ;  estimated  what  the  steamships  wanted 
for  their  labor  in  transporting  the  coffee  from  Rio 
Janeiro  to  New  York;  what  our  Government  wanted 
in  duties  for  its  labor  in  "  running"  the  Government ; 
added  the  freight  charges  the  railroad  wanted  for  its 
labor  and  expenses  in  carrying  the  coffee  from  New 
York  to  Cincinnati ;  footed  up  the  amount  the  whole- 


THE    THREE    KINGDOMS.  93 

sale  grocer  in  Cincinnati  wanted  for  the  labor  of  him- 
self, his  workmen,  and  his  clerks  for  bringing  it  there 
so  people  could  have  it  handy  in  a  great  city  whenever 
they  wanted  it ;  added  what  the  retail  grocery-man 
wanted  for  his  labor  and  his  clerks  in  having  it  handy 
down  at  the  corner  so  people  would  not  have  to  spend 
ten  cents  carfare  to  go  downtown  to  buy  fifteen  cents 
worth  of  coffee.  They  found  out  that,  putting  it 
altogether,  the  price  of  a  pound  of  coffee  down  at  the 
cprner  grocery  was  not  very  dear,  but  "  awful"  cheap, 
when  they  considered  how  many  people  had  to  labor 
at  it  and  get  their  living  out  of  it ;  and  not  only  their 
living,  but  they  figured  out  that  the  laboring  man  had 
to  get  a  living  for  a  lot  of  other  people  besides  himself 
and  family,  for  away  down  in  Brazil  on  the  plantation 
and  in  Rio  Janeiro,  on  the  steamships  and  in  New 
York  and  in  Cincinnati  all  these  laboring  men,  includ- 
ing the  farmhands,  cartmen,  railroad  men,  steamship 
captains  and  crews,  and  Custom  House  workers  and 
officers,  and  everybody  all  along  the  whole  line  who 
get  part  of  the  money  or  charges,  all  of  these  people 
had  to  employ  doctors,  lawyers,  ministers,  school- 
teachers, dentists,  and  others  who  are  called  "  profes- 
sionals," who  had  to  be  paid  out  of  these  laboring 
men's  wages;  and  besides  these  professionals  being 
supported  by  the  laboring  man,  they  also  had  to  pay 
their  share  out  of  the  wages  for  policemen,  street 
cleaners,  road  builders,  and  firemen;  to  support  a  lot 
of  rascals  in  jail  who  do  nothing,  and  to  feed  a  lot  of 
miserable  lazy  tramps  who  would  not  work.  So  they 
figured  out  these  details,  and  found  that  everything  in 
the  end  came  out  of  the  money  that  workmen  received 
for  their  labor. 

During  all  the  evenings  devoted  to  figuring,  Micky 
and  Fred  never  ceased  one  moment  from  their  work, 
but  kept  their  hands  busy,  hardly  taking  time  enough 
to  Ipok  up  from  their  kite-making.  Sally  did  all  the 


94  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

figuring,  and  used  decimals  down  as  low  as  ten  thou- 
sandths, so  exact  were  they  in  getting  at  prices;  and 
while  she  rattled  off  the  arithmetic  Ed  sat  by  her  side 
supervising  the  calculations. 

It  was  not  all  play  to  Messrs.  Flynn  &  Schmidt. 
They  were  serious  about  it,  and  day  by  day  as  they 
went  to  school  or  around  the  city  they  would  figure 
out  what  it  would  cost  to  manufacture  familiar  objects, 
which  impelled  them  to  compare  the  prices  they 
guessed  with  the  real  asking  prices  of  metals,  woods, 
and  material  of  various  origins,  until  they  would 
undertake  to  calculate  offhand  what  it  would  cost  to 
build  a  wagon  or  pave  a  street  or  make  a  locomotive. 
In  fact,  they  were  not  backward  in  guessing  as  closely 
as  they  could  to  what  the  contents  of  a  whole  store  was 
worth.  Thus,  they  educated  themselves  to  value  things 
at  their  real  value,  soon  learning  that  a  thing  was 
worth  just  about  the  amount  of  labor  expended  on  it 
from  the  time  when  the  natural  material  was  first  laid 
hands  on  by  men. 

The  heads  of  children  are  like  the  empty  barrels  in 
a  cooper  shop.  The  barrels  will  be  bought  by  a  hun- 
dred different  men  for  as  many  different  purposes. 
Flour  goes  into  one,  ashes  into  another,  molasses  into 
a  third,  whiskey  into  a  fourth,  candy  into  a  fifth,  poison 
into  the  sixth,  sand  into  the  seventh,  and  so  on.  A 
child's  empty  head  from  babyhood  is  ready  to  receive 
whatever  its  parents  and  environments  put  into  it. 

It  is  seldom  a  child  turns  aside  of  its  own  will  into 
a  path  of  its  own  choosing.  It  thus  becomes  a  great 
responsibility  for  parents  to  oversee  what  is  being  daily 
poured  into  the  brains  of  their  young  offspring;  but 
genius  seems  to  be  drawn  in  some  mysterious  manner 
toward  its  own  inclination,  as  if  an  unseen  magnet 
was  within  a  few  inches  of  the  brain,  drawing  it  gradu- 
ally and  persuasively  toward  its  own  longed-for  ideal. 

Micky  and  Fred  seemed  to  have  had  suddenly  awak- 


THE    THREE    KINGDOMS.  95 

ened  in  them  a  burning  desire  to  own  things  and  to 
learn  what  things  were  worth;  and  if  there  was  an 
affinity  to  which  they  were  unknowingly  being  at- 
tracted, it  was  eight  thousand  miles  in  diameter  and 
twenty-five  thousand  miles  in  circumference,  and  they 
afterward  aspired  to  learn  its  aggregate  value  and  own 
it  all. 

If  Micky's  mother  was  astonished  at  the  sudden 
transformation  regarding  neatness  of  dress  and  gen- 
eral appearance  that  characterized  Micky  and  Fred's 
entrance  into  the  kite  business,  that  was  nothing  com- 
pared to  the  surprise  of  their  teacher  at  their  sudden 
metamorphosis  from  dull  boys  to  the  brightest  ones 
in  the  class.  They  had  no  time  to  study  out  of  school, 
but  when  they  once  crossed  the  threshold  of  the 
school-room  there  was  not  a  moment  wasted.  Pre- 
viously both  were  good  in  arithmetic,  but  now  they 
seemed  brilliant.  Geography  was  as  enjoyable  as  eating 
buckwheat  cakes  with  syrup  for  breakfast;  Micky 
commenced  to  take  an  interest  in  spelling  and  pro- 
nouncing English  in  a  proper  manner ;  and  Sally,  who 
was  the  head  of  her  class  in  grammar,  was  actually 
politely  thanked  for  correcting  him,  and  no  longer 
scolded  for  doing  what  Micky  used  to  call  "  nagging 
him  fur  not  speaking  der  korrect  glib." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


THOSE  evenings  in  the  humble  cellar  of  the  Widow 
Flynn  were  remembered  as  the  choicest  moments  in 
the  lives  of  the  young  founders  of  the  most  far-reach- 
ing association  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  From  the 
realms  of  the  unknown  came  the  goddess  of  a  new 
era  and  kissed  the  brows  of  these  humble  children  in 
whose  genius  a  new  hope  was  born  for  mankind. 

One  evening  Fred  said  that  he  had  been  figuring 
on  the  value  of  a  steamship,  charging  up  the  labor  of 
this  man  and  that  man,  and  following  the  thing  all 
the  way  through  from  the  beginning.  He  found  an 
item  that  bothered  him — the  "  interest"  that  was 
charged  foif*  the  use  of  the  money  to  buy  the  raw  or 
unworked  material,  and  also  another  item  for  the 
"  rent"  that  was  paid  for  the  dockyards. 

Ed  replied  that  he  was  sorry  that  Fred  had  brought 
the  matter  up  just  then,  as  it  was  a  very  complicated 
affair  to  explain ;  but  he  did  not  blame  him  for  doing 
so,  as  it  was  natural  for  a  great  financier  and  account- 
ant to  consider  such  tilings.  He  then  stated  that  when 
a  person  speaks  of  "  interest"  it  immediately  implies 


CAPITAL.  97 

that  there  must  be  capital  or  money  back  of  it.  Some 
person  must  have  money  he  wants  to  lend,  and  receives 
his  pay  for  it. 

"  Yes,"  said  Fred,  "  that  is  it  exactly.  The  man 
that  has  the  money  sits  down  in  his  chair  and  does 
nothing  at  all  but  write  checks.  He  does  not  labor  or 
do  anything  for  mankind,  like  the  laboring  man  or  the 
furniture  dealer  or  steamboat  captains  and  owners  or 
railroad  men,  with  their  presidents  and  officers.  He  is 
just  idle  and  does  nothing  but  eat,  drink,  and  sleep, 
coolly  taking  in  his  interest  money  to  pay  for  his  ex- 
penses. How  can  I  add  the  interest  expense  to  my 
labor  in  building  the  steamship,  and  then  say  every 
cent  of  the  cost  of  the  ship  represents  labor?  That 
shows  to  me  there  is  something  wrong  about  your 
statement  that  all  value  represents  labor;  and  then 
there  is  also  the  amount  I  have  charged  up  against  the 
building  of -the  steamship  for  that  rent  of  the  great 
shipyard.  The  landlord  does  not  do  anything  at  all, 
but  just  comes  around  to  make  the  poor  shipbuilder 
pay  out  his  money  for  the  use  of  his  property,  going 
home  in  his  carriage  and  eating  and  drinking  and 
going  to  sleep  without  doing  any  labor  at  all,  except 
walking  from  his  carriage  into  his  house.  How  do 
you  call  that  labor?" 

Ed  then  said  that  "  both  the  banker  and  the  landlord 
were  once  as  poor  as  we  are  at  present,  and  had  to 
work  for  a  living.  Maybe  they  were  both  of  them 
carpenters,  starting  out  when  boys  to  learn  their  trade 
with  two  other  young  fellows,  and  when  all  four  were 
men  and  became  real  carpenters  they  got  $2  a  day 
apiece. 

"  Two  of  the  four  boys  spent  in  the  saloon  all  their 
money  by  the  end  of  each  week,  but  the  other  two 
saved  $4  apiece  each  week.  Now,  what  did  that  $4 
represent?  Was  it  not  the  price  of  two  days'  labor? 
They  each  went  and  put  those  two  days'  saved-up 


98  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

labor  in  the  savings  bank,  and  when  the  year  came 
around  they  had  saved  a  considerable  sum,  each  having 
$200  accumulated,  which  was  the  same  as  putting  their 
days'  labor  in  the  bank,  instead  of  in  the  saloon.  After 
thirty  years  they  each  had  $6,000  saved,  which  repre- 
sents about  three  thousand  days'  labor,  while  the 
other  two  men  who  never  saved  anything  were  still 
getting  $2  a  day  and  spending  it  as  fast  as  they  made 
it,  the  same  as  they  did  the  very  first  day  they  began. 

"  The  first  of  the  two  careful,  saving  men  bought 
the  shipyard  ground  with  the  savings  of  his  many 
days'  labor,  and  built  on  it  a  large  shipyard  shed, 
putting  machinery  in  it  for  shipbuilding,  and  rented 
it  to  a  poor  but  honest  shipbuilder,  who  did  not  have 
money  to  buy  the  place  or  build  a  shipyard  of  his 
owrn.  The  poor  shipbuilder  said  to  the  rich  landlord : 
1  You  have  labored  hard  all  your  lifetime  and  saved 
your  money.  You  are  getting  old  and  want  to  have  some 
comfort  in  your  declining  years,  and  you  cannot  work 
hard  any  more,  so  I  will  pay  you  $1000  a  year  for  your 
place,  and  probably  I  may  later  be  fortunate  enough 
to  make  and  save  some  money  also;  and  then  if  you 
will  at  that  future  time  sell,  I  will  buy  your  place  and 
own  it  myself.' 

"  The  other  careful  carpenter  who  saved  his  money 
or  days'  labor  takes  his  $6000  and  opens  a  bank.  The 
man  who  is  building  the  steamship  goes  to  this  banker 
and  says :  '  You  have  worked  hard  all  your  lifetime 
and  saved  some  money,  and  I  have  very  little.  Your 
friend  who  owns  the  shipyard  has  rented  the  place 
to  me,  as  I  want  to  build  a  steamship  for  some  respon- 
sible men  in  New  York,  who  will  pay  me  for  the  ship 
when  it  is  finished.  I  have  not  enough  money  to  pay 
the  wages  of  my  workmen,  nor  to  buy  all  the  material 
with  which  to  build  the  ship.  If  you  consider  me  hon- 
est, I  wish  you  would  lend  me  $20,000,  and 
I  will  pay  you  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  or  $1200 


CAPITAL.  99 

per  year,  for  its  use ;  and  you  can  thus  get  the  benefit 
in  your  old  age  of  your  saving  up  of  your  money ;' 
and  the  banker  lets  him  have  it,  because  he  knows  he 
is  honest  and  will  keep  his  word  and  pay  him  back. 

"  These  two  rich  men  were  at  one  time  poor  journey- 
men carpenters,  and  every  dollar  of  the  one  who  is 
the  landlord  and  every  dollar  of  the  one  who  is  the 
banker  represented  their  hard  days'  work  or  accumu- 
lated labor.  It  also  represented  economy  and  self- 
denial  ;  and  if  they  had  not  saved  their  money,  and  no 
other  person  had  saved  any,  then  the  man  who  wanted 
to  build  the  steamship  and  who  had  no  capital  could 
not  have  gone  into  the  shipbuilding  business ;  and  thus 
five  hundred  men  that  he  put  to  work  would  not  have 
had  any  method  of  earning  money  for  themselves  and 
families. 

"  Among  these  five  hundred  workmen  who  will  be 
employed  and  get  the  benefit  of  this  capital  or  accumu- 
lated labor  are  some  who  had  not  a  dollar  in  the  world 
the  day  they  commenced  to  work  in  that  new  ship- 
yard, and  some  of  these  poor  workmen  from  that  day 
will  also  commence  to  save  their  money  as  the  landlord 
and  the  banker  did  when  they  were  young  men,  and 
when  twenty  or  thirty  years  roll  by  they  will  also  be 
rich  and  own  houses  and  shipyards  and  go  into  the 
banking  or  other  business,  and  all  they  have  will 
represent  their  saved  days'  labor  as  they  went  along 
and  laid  it  up  for  future  use.  They  did  not  spend  it 
in  saloons,  like  most  of  their  companions,  but  put  it 
aside,  that  they  as  well  as  others  might  have  some 
future  benefit. 

"  Some  half-crazy  people  think  that  when  that  land- 
lord and  that  banker  were  rich  they  should  be  compelled 
to  give  their  money  away  to  poor  people  or  divide  up 
with  those  fellows  who  saved  nothing,  or  else  lend  it 
for  nothing,  without  interest,  not  getting  any  benefit 
or  just  reward  for  their  industry  or  saving  habits,  and 


IOO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

probably  going  themselves  to  the  poorhouse.  If  such 
were  the  case,  no  one  would  want  to  save  anything. 
Who,  then,  would  have  money  upon  which  to  do  busi- 
ness or  to  start  enterprises  or  to  build  railroads  ?  The 
people  would  be  one  vast  mob,  and  there  would  be  no 
government  to  start  or  conduct  anything  or  go  into 
business. 

"If  when  the  world  started  every  person  had  kept 
on  spending  all  they  made,  and  no  one  up  to  this  day 
had  saved  anything,  then  there  wrould  not  be  any 
money  accumulated  anywhere  and  no  great  enterprises 
could  have  started.  We  should  all  be  like  wild  Indians 
without  education  and  going  around  like  tramps,  try- 
ing to  scrape  up  something  to  eat ;  and  suppose  a  nation 
or  colony  of  tramps  issued  paper  money  and  tried  to 
pass  this  among  themselves,  then  all  the  work  any  of 
them  would  want  to  do  would  be  to  print  money  and 
make  $1,000,000  of  it  for  each  of  them.  In  reality, 
it  would  be  worth  nothing.  If,  however,  they  had  to 
work  to  dig  gold  or  silver,  their  days'  labor  would  be 
turned  into  gold  dollars;  for  if  they  could  find  one  or 
two  dollars'  worth  every  day,  there  would  be  some 
value  to  it.  If  they  could  find  more  than  two  dollars' 
worth  per  day,  almost  every  person  would  go  to  gold- 
mining,  as  it  would  be  easier  than  driving  street  cars 
or  carrying  bricks  to  housetops. 

"  In  this  selfish  era  the  whole  nation  is  not  one 
family,  the  father  owning  it  all  and  wanting  every  one 
of  the  children  to  be  well  cared  for,  educated,  and 
clothed,  and  the  weakest  and  most  helpless  one  in  the 
flock  being  the  one  to  be  most  loved  and  watched  over ; 
this  is  the  ideal  family.  But  such  is  not  the  case;  in 
its  stead  every  man  seems  to  be  for  himself.  Of  course, 
men  want  to  own  all  they  can  save  up,  getting  interest 
and  rent  for  their  capital  or  accumulated  labor.  When 
they  die,  they  like  to  leave  it  to  the  children  they  love, 
not  giving  it  to  Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry,  whom  they  do 


CAPITAL.  •          IOI 

not  care  for,  some  of  whom  would  spend  their  gift  in 
a  week  if  they  once  got  hold  of  it.  Capital,  you  see, 
is  all  right  and  should  be  respected.  Rich  men  have 
a  right  to  what  they  get  lawfully;  but  before  many 
years  you  will  hear  a  great  deal  about  capital  and 
labor,  and  how  labor  ought  to  put  down  capital,  and 
all  such  nonsense  as  that." 

"  Yes,"  said  Fred,  "  I  see  that  part  is  all  right,  just 
as  you  say  about  capital  being  accumulated  labor;  but 
I  do  not  see  how  you  can  call  or  think  of  as  labor  the 
interest  money  that  I  spoke  of  at  first.  You  said  the 
banker  had  only  $6000  of  his  own,  and  in  my  calcula- 
tion for  interest  I  borrowed  $20,000  of  him  at  six 
per  cent,  for  one  year.  How  was  it  that  he  had 
$20.000  to  lend  me  if  he  was  only  worth  $6000? 

".Well,"  said  Ed,  "  it  is  this  way.  All  during  that 
banker's  lifetime  he  behaved  himself  like  a  gentleman 
and  an  honest  man,  and  people  learned  to  know  him 
and  to  have  confidence  that  he  would  do  things  straight 
and  right.  When  he  grew  older  and  wanted  to  go  into 
the  banking  business,  many  of  the  people  who  knew 
him  asked  him  also  to  take  care  of  the  little  monev  they 
had ;  and  there  were  so  many  people  that  had  confidence 
in  him  and  trusted  him,  that  before  he  had  been  in  the 
banking  business  a  month  he  had  $100,000  entrusted 
to  his  care,  and  he  paid  all  his  friends  four  per  cent, 
interest  on  their  money,  and  he  loaned  it  out  to  other 
persons,  like  your  shipbuilder,  at  six  per  cent.,  and  thus 
made  two  per  cent,  for  himself  for  his  trouble  and  also 
for  his  expenses  to  help  pay  for  the  rent  of  his  banking 
office  and  for  salaries  or  wages  for  the  labor  or  services 
of  the  clerks  he  employed." 

"  But,"  said  Fred,  "  that  is  just  the  point  of  my 
whole  argument.  The  banker  got  his  interest  on  his 
own  money  or  saved-up  labor.  Why  should  he  be 


profiting  by  other  people's  accumulated  labor?" 
"  Why,"  said  Ed,  "  I  thought  I  just  answered 


your 


IO2  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

question  by  saying  that  he  made  a  small  amount,  only 
two  per  cent.,  for  his  labor  or  time  and  for  the  labor 
and  time  of  his  clerks  to  pay  him  for  his  trouble  and 
thoughtfulness  about  the  banking  business ;  and  all  the 
rest  of  it,  or  four  per  cent.,  went  to  the  other  men  who 
trusted  the  banker  with  their  saved-up  labor  money 
Do  you  think  the  banker  ought  to  work  for  nothing? 
He  keeps  a  "  money"  store,  just  as  others  keep  dry- 
goods  or  grocery  or  kite  stores.  Is  he  not  entitled  to 
pay  or  profit  for  his  services? 

"  There  are  a  lot  of  demagogues  and  crazy  labor 
leaders  who,  through  deception,  earn  a  living  by  talk- 
ing and  selling  their  newspapers  to  people  who  do  not 
know  how  to  think  right,  and  are  all  the  time  trying 
to  tell  poor  people  that  the  man  who  has  money  is  his 
enemy  and  the  one  to  be  despised  and  put  down.  But 
this  is  not  so.  The  richer  a  man  becomes,  the  richer 
the  whole  world  becomes,  the  better  it  will  be  for  all 
poor  men,  and  especially  for  poor  men  who  want  to 
save  money  and  get  rich  themselves;  for  no  matter 
how  much  the  rich  man  gets,  the  laborer  gets  it  all  in 
the  end.  If  the  rich  man  builds  an  extravagant  palace 
with  his  savings,  then  the  whole  structure  represents 
the  money  paid  laborers  for  days'  wages.  If  he  buys 
ornaments  or  decorates  the  mansion  in  a  most  lavish 
manner  or  spends  it  in  a  great  feast  or  "  house  warm- 
ing," it  is  all  paid  for  in  days'  labor  to  the  artisan  and 
to  the  butcher,  the  baker,  and  the  ice-cream  maker. 
If  he  puts  his  profits  in  railroad  bonds  or  railroad 
building,  it  represents  so  many  days'  labor  for  work- 
men in  mining  and  forging  the  iron,  building  the 
bridges,  laying  the  tracks,  and  constructing  the  cars, 
locomotives,  and  depots.  Wherever  he  places  his 
money  for  investment,  it  means  so  much  for  the  laborer, 
If  he  puts  it  in  bank,  it  will  be  loaned  out  to  ship- 
builders and  other  people,  who  will  use  it  where  it  is 
represented  by  the  labor  of  farmers,  mechanics,  and 


CAPITAL.  IO3 

the  world  of  workmen  who  are  employed  by  the  people 
who  borrow  it. 

"  The  only  way  the  rich  man  can  escape  benefiting 
the  laborer  with  his  money  is  to  put  it  in  greenbacks 
or  other  money  and  sit  down  on  it.  So  there  need  be 
no  sentimentality  on  the  part  of  any  one  at  what  is 
called  the  extravagance  of  the  rich  or  a  wilful  waste 
of  money,  providing  the  wilful  waste  does  not  injure 
mankind.  It  all  goes  in  the  end  to  the  laborer,  who 
needs  it  most.  The  man  who  loses  his  fortune  in  stock 
speculations  has  the  cold  comfort  of  knowing  that 
some  one  else  has  gained  it,  and  with  the  lucky  profits 
will  more  than  likely  invest  it  in  luxury  that  will  cost 
days'  labor;  but  if  he  also  speculates  it  away,  another 
man  will  get  it  to  buy  a  home  with  costly  furnishings, 
for  which  the  laborer  has  already  been  paid  his  wages, 
and  then  when  he  gets  the  palace  he  will  have  to  spend 
his  money  to  keep  it  going.  His  food  represents  labor, 
so  do  his  clothes  and  comforts.  In  almost  all  cases 
of  speculation  what  one  man  loses  another  man  gains, 
and  the  profits  of  men  in  speculation  or  business  or 
professions  are  eventually  paid  to  the  workman.  So 
you  see,  Fred,  interest  is  all  right,  and  will  be  so  until 
a  better  day  comes  on  earth,  when  everybody  will 
belong',  as  it  were,  in  one  home  or  family  and  feel  as 
children  do  in  their  father's  house  when 'they  look  all 
around  at  the  furniture,  books,  and  pictures,  and  every- 
thing, and  talk  about  our  things,  realizing  that  their 
father  is  '  square'  and  is  not  keeping  a  set  of  books 
and  charging  them  up  with  everything  that  is  spent 
for  them,  and  some  day  going  to  make  them  pay  it 
back. 

"  But  that  better  day  will  never  be  brought  about  by 
anarchy  and  bloodshed  and  stealing  or  taking  away 
what  others  have,  for  people  who  would  seize  or  steal 
money  in  that  way  are  people  who  after  they  had  other 
people's  money  would  not  work  in  an  honest  manner, 


104  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

but  would  soon  spend  it.  Then  these  anarchists  or 
thieves  or  murderers  would  commence  to  divide  up 
again,  murder  and  bloodshed  following  among  them- 
selves. In  twenty  or  thirty  years  there  would  be  no 
person  left  to  tell  the  tale,  for,  like  the  Kilkenny  cats, 
they  would  have  clawed  and  chewed  each  other  '  out 
of  sight.' 

"  There  is  a  way  everything  in  the  world  can  be 
equally  divided,  and  that  hour  will  only  come  when 
people  all  love  one  another  and  all  are  willing  to  work 
and  do  their  share  of  the  saving;  and  you  can  just  bet 
your  bottom  dollar  that  that  time  will  never  come  to 
stay  in  any  other  manner." 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE    SILVER    QUESTION. 

MICKY  came  in  late  one  evening  to  the  cellar  and 
said  he  had  been  trying  to  sell  a  hundred  dozen  kites 
down  on  Vine  Street  at  Thurber's  wholesale  grocery, 
and  had  offered  them  at  thirty-three  and  one-third  per 
cent,  discount,  or  sixteen  cents  per  dozen  net,  in  such 
large  quantities.  He  stated  he  had  had  a  long  con- 
versation* with  Mr.  Thurber,  who  said  his  firm  had 
unusual  facilities  for  reaching  all  the  retail  grocers  in 
the  country,  as  they  had  two  hundred  salesmen  travel- 
ling in  all  directions,  and  that  his  company  would 
probably  be  contented  if  they  bought  at  thirty-three 
and  one-third  per  cent,  discount  and  sold  at  twenty-five 
per  cent,  discount,  and  thus  receive  only  two  cents  per 
dozen  profit  on  kites.  They  sold  millions  of  dollars' 
worth  of  goods  annually,  and  could,  of  course,  sell  for 
much  less  profit  than  a  retail  grocer  whose  business 
only  amounted  to  a  few  thousand  dollars  every  year, 
out  of  which  he  and  his  few  clerks  had  to  get  a  living. 
Micky  did  not  consummate  the  sale,  as  he  promised  to 
return  the  next  week  and  give  a  lower  price,  if  possible, 
on  the  kites  in  one-thousand-dozen  lots,  and  he  wanted 


106  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

a  few  days  to  figure  on  it  and  talk  the  matter  over  with 
his  partner. 

Micky  said  .that  while  he  was  waiting  in  the  great 
grocery  office  to  see  Mr.  Thurber  there  were  some 
Congressmen  and  Senators  there  from  the  East,  West, 
and  South,  all  talking  about  something  they  called  the 
"  Silver  Question,"  and  he  must  confess  that  after  they 
were  through  he  did  not  know  anything  more  about 
it  than  when  they  commenced.  The  principal  thing 
he  could  make  out,  however,  was  that  some  of  them 
wanted  sixteen  dollars'  worth  of  silver  for  one  dollar 
in  gold,  which  he  thought  was  a  big  piece  of  "  cheek ;" 
for  if  that  were  the  case,  everybody  who  had  a  gold 
dollar  would  go  out  and  buy  sixteen  silver  dollars,  and 
then  with  these  silver  dollars  could  purchase  all  the 
things  they  wanted  to  eat,  drink,  and  wear,  not  using 
their  gold  dollars,  but  only  spending  them  for  buying 
up  silver  dollars  whenever  they  wanted  to  pay  for  any- 
thing. 

Ed  told  Micky  that  he  certainly  must  have  mis- 
understood their  meaning,  as  Congressmen  and  Sena- 
tors were  supposed  to  have  some  sense ;  and  no  one  of 
them  would  expect  to  receive  sixteen  dollars'  worth 
of  something  for  one  dollar's  worth  of  something  else, 
no  matter  whether  it  was  kites,  tables,  flour,  houses, 
gold  or  silver,  or  anything  whatsoever.  Everything 
that  was  for  sale  represented  the  labor  of  just  so  many 
days,  and  no  person,  unless  he  wanted  to  get  rid  of  it 
for  some  funny  reason,  wanted  to  give  anything  that 
cost  sixteen  days  of  labor  for  something  that  cost  only 
one  day  of  labor,  whether  it  was  gold  or  silver,  copper 
or  lead,  or  anything  man  needed.  If  it  could  be  shown 
by  miners  that  one  man  could  go  out  and  find  and  dig 
just  sixteen  times  as  much  silver  in  one  day  as  he  could 
gold,  then  it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that  the  gold 
was  worth  sixteen  times  more  than  the  silver — that  is, 
if  it  proved  to  be  the  experience  of  the  average  dig- 


THE    SILVER    QUESTION.  IC>7 

gings  or  minings  of  all  the  men  who  were  engaged 
in  that  business  in  the  world. 

It  might-  be  that  a  gold-miner  sonic  day  would 
luckily  find  a  big  piece  of  gold  above  the  average  size 
and  make  himself  rich  all  at  once;  but  it  was  also  just 
as  likely  to  follow  that  the  silver-miner  might  do  the 
same,  and  so  the  whole  thing  would  keep  about  even. 
Some  day  it  might  happen  that  a  few  lucky  gold- 
miners  would  suddenly  dig  into  a  mountain  chain  and 
find  the  whole  inside  to  be  a  mass  of  pure  gold,  which 
could  be  quarried  out  by  the  ton,  the  same  as  iron  ore, 
and  also  enough  of  it  to  supply  coin  for  more  than  ten 
worlds.  What  would  be  the  result?  Why,  it  would 
be  just  this,  that  every  person  would  just  rush  to  that 
mountain  chain  by  the  earliest  and  fastest  express 
train,  working  night  and  day  to  be  the  first  to  dig  or 
bore  holes  into  it  and  get  out  the  gold  by  the  carload 
and  take  it  to  Washington  by  long  freight  trains  as 
fast  as  they  could  and  sell  it  to  the  United  States 
Treasury.  The  Government  would  have  to  receive  it, 
because  the  law  said  it  must  do  so,  for  there  is  a  law 
saying  that  the  Assay  Office  shall  take  all  the  pure  gold 
that  is  presented.  If  such  a  thing  should  ever  occur, 
the  early  birds  would  be  the  ones  that  would  catch  the 
worm,  for  the  first  carload  that  would  arrive  from  the 
West  on  the  first  morning  at  the  Assay  Office  in 
Washington  would  be  received  and  paid  for,  and  so 
would  the  second  and  the  third  and  the  fourth  and  the 
fifth  carloads.  By  noon-time  the  cashier  of  the  Treas- 
ury would  become  almost  paralyzed  with  astonishment, 
and  would  telephone  to  the  Assay  Office  to  know  why 
in  the  name  of  heaven  he  was  drawing  all  at  one  time 
such  big  checks  on  the  Government  bank,  as  all  the 
money  that  was  on  hand  in  the  morning  was  nearly 
paid  out  and  gone,  and  what  was  left  would  not  hold 
out  half  an  hour  longer  if  he  did  not  stop  drawing  such 
enormous  checks.  The  chief  at  the  Assay  Office  would 


108     .  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

telephone  back  to  the  cashier  to  mind  his  own  business, 
'as  he  (the  chief  of  the  Assay  Office)  was  too  busy 
attending  to  his  own  duties  taking  in  gold  to  be  both- 
ered by  such  "  fool  questions,"  for  it  was  no  business 
of  the  Assay  Office  about  paying  for  the  gold — that  was 
the  cashier's  duty — for  they  at  the  Assay  Office  were 
obliged  by  law  to  do  what  they  were  doing,  and  would 
keep  on  doing  so.  Then  the  cashier  would  hasten  to 
his  chief,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  tell  him 
about  it. 

If  such  a  bonanza  as  he  had  mentioned  should  be 
discovered  in  Colorado  or  elsewhere,  here  is  probably 
about  what  would  take  place. 

Another  check  for  a  carload  of  gold  would  very 
soon  be  presented  to  the  cashier,  who  would  find  that 
there  was  not  enough  money  on  hand  to  cash  it.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  would  tell  the  cashier  to 
save  back  enough  change  to  cash  their  own  salaries 
due  the  next  day,  and  to  pay  out  all  the  rest  of  the 
money  on  hand  on  account  of  this  last  presented  check 
for  a  carload  of  gold,  and  then  for  the  balance  of  the 
amount  due,  for  which  they  could  not  pay,  he  must 
give  the  man  a  draft  on  the  Assistant  Treasurer  at 
New  York,  where  the  Government  still  had  millions 
of  dollars  on  hand. 

The  cashier  then  telephones  to  the  chief  of  the  Assay 
Office  that  all  his  money  is  gone,  and  that  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  orders  him  to  draw  the  rest  of  his 
checks  for  that  day  on  New  York.  So  the  chief  of 
the  Assay  Office,  as  the  fresh  carloads  arrive,  draws 
his  checks  on  New  York  and  gives  them  to  the  long 
line  of  thirty-four  miners  from  the  West  who  have 
arrived  with  their  train  loads  of  gold,  and  they  all  go 
to  the  Treasury  in  Washington  to  get  the  checks  or 
orders  approved;  then  they  take  the  evening  train  to 
New  York,  and  by  noon  the  next  day  every  dollar 
in  the  United  States  depository  at  New  York  is  paid 


THE   SILVER    QUESTION.  109 

out,  except  the  money  retained  to  pay  the  salaries  of 
the  officers  and  employes,  as  no  doubt  they  would  look 
out  for  themselves  in  that  direction. 

In  the  meantime,  telegrams  reach  the  Treasury  at 
Washington  that  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine  trains 
of  gold  were  scattered  all  along  the  railroads  from 
Colorado  to  Washington,  each  of  them  with  two  loco- 
motives pulling  and  pushing  ahead  to  get  to  Washing- 
ton as  fast  as  they  could,  so  as  to  reach  there  first ;  and 
the  additional  news  is  received  that  enough  for  five 
hundred  train  loads  of  gold  are  scattered  along  the  side 
of  the  mining  stations  and  ready  to  ship,  but  no  cars 
or  locomotives  arrived  to  carry  it  away. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  becomes  alarmed. 
At  midnight  he  tells  the  President  of  the  United  States 
that  he  cannot  pay  for  a  thousandth  part  of  the  gold 
he  hears  will  be  presented  for  sale  during  the  next  few 
days  at  the  Assay  Office.  So  at  a  quarter  to  six  o'clock 
in  the  morning  all  the  Cabinet  officers  are  awakened 
and  summoned  to  the  White  House  to  see  what  can  be 
done.  The  chief  of  the  Assay  Office  is  also  summoned, 
and  is  told  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  that  there 
is  no  more  money  on  hand  to  pay  for  the  gold  that  will 
be  presented,  and  that  he  must  not  give  out  any  more 
checks.  "  But,"  says  the  assay  officer,  "  the  law  reads 
that  I  must  buy  all  the  gold  that  is  presented.  What 
shall  I  do?  You  should  first  change  the  law  and  not 
make  me  liable  for  dismissal,  removal,  or  prosecution." 
The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  replies  that  Congress  is 
not  in  session  and  the  law  cannot  be  changed ;  and  then 
the  whole  Cabinet  sit  in  silence,  until  the  office  boy 
suggests  that  they  had  better  coin  the  money  out  of 
the  gold  received  on  the  day  before,  and  pay  it  out  for 
the  gold  to  be  received  to-day. 

That  was  a  good  suggestion,  but  the  office  boy  was 
put  out  of  the  office  for  venturing  to  open  his  mouth. 
His  proposal,  however,  was  adopted,  arid  all  were 


IIO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

about  to  leave  when  the  chief  of  the  Assay  Office 
happened  to  think  that  he  could  not  coin  before  bank- 
ing hours,  which  commenced  at  ten  o'clock,  the  one 
hundred  thousandth  part  of  the  coin  necessary  to  pay 
for  the  gold  that  would  be  presented,  for  he  had  heard 
that  even  as  early  as  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  a  line 
of  miners  was  forming  in  front  of  the  Assay  Office, 
so  as  to  be  in  position  to  get  their  pay  first.  The 
Secretary  of  Agriculture  then  asked  in  what  shape  the 
new  gold  was  received  from  the  cars,  and  was  told  in 
bars,  each  about  the  value  of  $25,000.  "  Then,"  said 
the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  "  why  not  during  the 
day  pay  the  miners  for  their  gold  bars  with  the  other 
gold  bars  received  on  the  previous  day?"  That  was 
considered  a  good  plan,  so  it  was  adopted ;  but  at  eleven 
o'clock  another  Cabinet  meeting  was  hastily  called,  the 
chief  of  the  Assay  Office  giving  information  that  the 
miners  would  not  make  the  exchange,  as  they  could 
find  no  good  excuse  for  taking  back  the  same  kind  of 
thing  they  were  giving,  the  metal  being  too  heavy  to 
carry  around.  They  had  no  place  to  put  it,  and  clam- 
ored for  checks.  It  was  then  decided  to  offer  them 
silver  for  gold ;  but  they  would  not  accept  that,  as  they 
said  there  was  as  much  silver,  if  not  more  of  it,  out 
West  than  there  was  gold.  Thus,  the  Cabinet  was  in 
a  quandary. 

It  was  then  decided  that  the  best  thing  to  do  was 
to  give  the  miners  certificates  of  deposit  in  amounts 
of  $100,000  each,  stating  that  they  had  left  gold  for 
that  amount  in  Washington,  and  with  these  certificates 
they  could  go  out  to  the  various  national.  State,  and 
private  banks  and  get  money  on  them.  This  satisfied 
the  miners,  and  they  all  went  to  New  York  on  the 
evening  train  to  raise  money  on  their  certificates  of 
gold  deposits. 

In  the  meantime  the  bankers  of  New  York  had 
heard  by  telegraph  all  about  the  vast  discoveries  of 


THE    SILVER    QUESTION.  Ill 

gold  and  about  the  gold  certificates,  and  held  a  meeting 
at  the  Clearing  House  that  night,  which  lasted  until 
one  o'clock  in  the  morning;  and  they  figured  up  the 
whole  affair,  and  found  that  the  quantity  of  gold  in 
the  new  mines  was  fabulous  and  previously  undreamed 
of,  and  was  now  of  such  unheard-of  volume  that  they 
could  not  take  care  of  or  pay  for  it  all.  One  banker 
from  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  said  he  had  just  received  a  dis- 
patch from  Colorado  that  the  mountains  were  just  full 
of  solid  gold,  and  that  one  man  could  dig  out  twelve  tons 
of  it  in  one  day.  "  Then,"  said  the  banker  from  Beth- 
lehem, "  in  Pennsylvania  one  miner  can  dig  out  twelve 
tons  of  iron  ore  in  one  day;  if  it  was  solid  stuff,  the 
miner  could  earn  $24  per  day ;  but  it  is  not  solid  iron, 
only  the  ore,  and  it  is  hard  work  now  for  a  miner  to 
find  good  ore  enough  in  one  place  to  earn  $2  a  day, 
as  it  is  not  all  pure  iron ;  but  now  I"  (the  banker  from 
Bethlehem)  "  have  learned  that  out  West  unlimited 
quantities  of  gold  have  been  found,  one  man  digging 
out  twelve  tons  of  the  solid  stuff  in  one  day,  which  at 
this  present  hour  sells  for  $750,000  per  ton,  twelve 
tons  being  worth  $9,000,000."  "  Can  it,"  said  the 
banker,  "  be  possible  that  we  are  going  to  be  called 
upon  to  pay  out  our  savings  and  the  savings  in  our 
banks  of  others  entrusted  to  our  care  at  the  rate  of 
$9,000,000  per  day  for  a  Colorado  laboring  man's 
wages,  while  a  hard-working  man  in  Pennsylvania  can 
only  earn  $2  per  day?  If,"  continued  he,  "it  were 
only  a  small,  lucky  find  of  a  few  tons  or  more,  then  it 
would  make  no  difference;  but  the  news  is  confirmed 
that  there  are  unlimited  quantities  of  it,  just  as  there 
are  unlimited  quantities  of  iron  ore  in  some  places  and 
of  sand  on  the  ocean  shore ;  and,"  continued  the  banker, 
"  the  President  and  Cabinet  have  issued  certificates  of 
deposit  for  genuine  pure  gold  bricks,  and  the  miners 
and  holders  of  them  will  be  here  in  this  city  to-morrow 
morning  wanting  us  to  advance  money  on  them  at  the 


1 12  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

rate  of  $9,000,000  per  day  for  one  man's  labor.  Can 
we  do  it  ?  Shall  we  do  it  ?" 

The  president  of  the  Clearing  House  then  called  the 
speaker  to  order,  and  told  him  he  did  not  think  that 
the  association  wanted  any  such  "  fool  question"  put 
to  them  by  any  banker  from  Bethlehem  or  Jerusalem 
or  any  other  seaport;  of  course,  they  would  not  do 
such  a  thing;  for  if,  said  the  presiding  officer,  any 
person  is  going  into  a  business  where  they  could  make 
$9,000,000  a  day  or  $1,000,000  a  day  or  $100,000  a 
day,  he  would  like  to  resign  his  honored  position  and 
go  at  it  himself. 

The  meeting  finally  decided  that  the  President  and 
Cabinet  at  Washington  and  the  chief  of  the  Assay 
Office  had  a  perfect  right  to  issue  a  piece  of  paper  that 
said  that  a  miner  from  Colorado  had  deposited  a  cer- 
tain quantity  of  gold ;  but  that  as  Congress  had  not 
made  the  certificate  a  legal  tender  with  an  agreement 
that  it  was  good  for  payment  of  debts,  therefore  it  did 
not  follow  that  the  bankers  or  any  one  in  America  or 
elsewhere  were  obliged  to  take  it;  and  that  as  far  as 
the  bankers'  association  was  concerned  the  Govern- 
ment could  keep  on  receiving  gold  until  they  had  a  pile 
as  high  as  the  Washington  Monument  if  they  wanted 
to.  The  only  possible  objection  they  could  think  of 
was  that  the  Cabinet  ought  not  to  charge  the  expense 
to  the  Government,  but  ought  to  pay  out  of  their  own 
pockets  for  the  handling  of  the  gold  and  the  paper  on 
which  the  certificates  were  written. 

The  next  morning,  when  the  miners  from  Colorado 
presented  their  gold  certificates  at  the  banks,  they  were 
not  cashed  or  placed  to  their  credit,  and  there  was 
much  howling  and  an  odor  of  sulphur  in  the  language 
used.  The  miners  found  out  for  the  first  time  that 
their  gold  was  worth  nothing,  not  even  so  much  as  iron, 
for  it  would  cost  more  days'  labor  to  get  out  an  equal 
weight  of  pure  iron.  Thus,  it  was  telegraphed  all 


THE    SILVER   QUESTION.  113 

along  the  line  of  the  railroads,  the  freight  trains  being 
stopped  in  the  woods.  The  miners  had  no  money  to 
pay  the  freight  tip  to  that  point  or  any  farther;  the 
railroad  companies  dumped  the  gold  at  the  side  of  the 
track,  and  no  one  cared  to  take  it  away,  because  it  was 
too  heavy  and  they  could  not  get  anything  for  it  or 
did  not  know  what  to  do  with  it.  The  only  demand 
that  ever  came  for  it  was  from  a  board  of  trustees  of 
a  "  New  Jerusalem"  church,  who  wanted  it,  as  a  matter 
of  sentiment,  to  pave  their  sidewalk  with. 

The  only  persons  who  profited  by  that  great  gold 
discovery  were  the  few  lucky  miners  who  got  their 
gold  to  Washington  the  first  day,  and  received  Govern- 
ment checks,  which  they  deposited  to  their  credit  in  the 
various  banks,  and  who  were  fortunate  to  check  the 
money  out  immediately  in  payment  for  real  estate  and 
railroad  and  other  investments. 

The  only  great  advantage  that  came  to  the  country 
was  the  lesson  it  learned  that  gold  was  not  worth  any- 
thing in  itself,  but  was  only  valued  in  proportion  as 
it  was  scarce,  and  cost  about  one  dollar's  worth  of  daily 
labor  to  get  one  dollar's  worth  of  gold,  and  that  its 
past  value  was  also  in  consequence  of  the  Government 
having  never  refused  to  take  at  a  uniform  price  all  that 
was  presented. 

"  Now,"  continued  Ed,  "  the  silver  question  has  a 
good  many  points  to  it,  one  of  them  being  the  ques- 
tion of  supply  and  demand  just  explained.  Some 
persons  claim  that  there  is  silver  in  such  great  quan- 
tities to  be  obtained  that  one  man  can  dig  sixteen 
dollars'  worth  of  it  while  another  man  in  the  same  time 
can  only  dig  one  dollar's  worth  of  gold ;  and  so  has 
come  that  familiar  expression  '  sixteen  to  one.'  It  is 
a  question  of  quantity,  and  means  sixteen  ounces  of 
silver  to  one  ounce  of  gold.  But  other  people  claim 
that  silver  is  so  plentiful  that  one  man  can  dig  thirty- 
two  dollars'  worth  of  silver  while  another  man  can  dig 


114  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

only  one  dollar's  worth  of  gold,  or  thirty-two  to  one, 
thus  making  an  ounce  of  silver  of  still  less  value  than 
an  ounce  of  gold;  others  claim  twenty  to  one,  others 
twenty-five  to  one,  and  it  is  so  unsettled  as  to  what 
really  is  the  right  proportion  that  everything  is  mixed 
up  about  it,  and  no  one  knows  what  to  say  or  do.  All 
they  really  do  know  is  that  silver  was  once  scarce  and 
for  centuries  was  hard  to  find.  People  were  anxious 
to  get  it,  and  there  was  not  enough  to  be  found  to 
satisfy  the  demand  for  it  by  the  governments  and  the 
people.  Suddenly  great  silver  mines  were  discovered 
in  the  West,  and  almost  immediately  other  silver  mines 
were  found  in  many  distant  countries,  and  the  precious 
metal  commenced  to  pour  into  the  great  money  centres 
in  vast  quantities.  In  one  little  town  out  West  three 
or  four  men  made  $20,000,000  apiece  in  two  years. 
This  luck  made  other  people  wild  and  half  crazy,  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  in  different  parts  of 
the  world  commenced  to  hunt  and  dig  for  silver,  and 
so  much  of  it  kept  coming  in  that  the  bankers  could 
not  take  care  of  it  all.  The  different  governments  of 
the  earth  who  bought  most  of  the  silver  got  frightened, 
as  they  did  not  know  what  it  was  really  worth,  for 
a  silver  dollar  was  authorized  by  law  to  buy  just  as 
much  as  a  gold  dollar;  and  as  silver  dollars  in  the  great 
aggregate  could  be  mined  cheaper  or  for  less  days' 
labor  than  an  equal  amount  of  gold  dollars,  it  began  to 
upset  things,  especially  in  the  settling  of  exchanges 
between  the  nations.  In  consequence,  some  of  the 
nations  stopped  coining  silver,  and  said  it  should  not 
be  legal  to  pay  off  a  whole  debt  with  it ;  but  those 
governments  said  they  would  only  buy  just  enough 
silver  to  use  for  '  change,'  as  it  was  handy  to  have  in 
the  pocket  and  also  convenient,  and  they  had  always 
been  accustomed  to  use  such  change  from  their  boy- 
hood. Thus,  the  nations  repealed  all  their  laws  that 
authorized  a  man  to  pay  for  a  $50,000  house  all  in 


THE    SILVER   QUESTION.  11$ 

silver  if  he  insisted  on  doing  so.  The  reason  they 
repealed  the  law  was  because  the  price  of  silver  was 
so  uncertain.  The  man  might  go  out  to-day  and  pay 
only  $49,000  in  gold  for  enough  silver  to  pay  for  the 
$50,000  house,  and  then  again  the  next  day  the  price 
of  silver  might  go  down  so  that  he  could  buy  the 
same  amount  of  silver  for  $45,000  in  gold.  He  would 
be  angry  and  feel  as  if  he  had  lost  $4000  by  not  wait- 
ing the  extra  twenty-four  hours. 

"  Had  all  the  nations  stood  together,  offering  to  buy 
all  the  silver  at  a  certain  price,  and  say :  '  Come  on, 
boys,  bring  on  your  silver  to  any  amount,  and  here  is . 
your  cold  cash  for  it,'  then  there  would  be  no  daily 
fluctuation  in  the  price  of  silver,  and  the  man  that 
bought  the  house  for  $50,000  could  have  nothing  to 
get  angry  about,  for  the  price  of  silver  to-day  would 
be  the  same  to-morrow,  and  then  it  would  make  no 
difference  to  him  whether  he  had  paid  for  it  in  silver  or 
gold,  for  he  would  just  as  soon  have  silver  as  to  have 
gold  in  bank. 

"  That  is  what  makes  gold  steady  and  even  in  price, 
as  the  governments  of  the  earth  say :  '  Come  on,  boys, 
bring  on  your  gold  by  the  wagon  load  or  trainful  and 
we  will  take  it  all.'  Miners  can  never  find  enough  of  it 
to  satisfy  the  bankers  and  the  Government,  and  men 
are  to-day  digging  gold  in  all  the  corners  of  the  earth 
to  get  more  of  it. 

"If  the  time  should  ever  come  that  they  could  find 
gold  in  unlimited  quantities,  it  would  cause  the  same 
trouble  that  silver  is  now  making.  The  reason  the 
governments  refuse  to  say :  '  Come  on,  boys,  with  all 
your  silver,'  is  because  they  are  afraid  to  say  so,  as 
they  fear  they  will  get  swamped  with  the  enormous 
supply  that  would  roll  in  by  every  train.  If  silver 
should  go  up  to  the  old  price,  then  a  million  men  over 
the  whole  world  would  start  again  at  silver-mining 
and  swamp  the  world  with  it.  If  the  people  who  mine 


Il6  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

silver  could  only  just  satisfy  the  governments  and  the 
bankers  of  the  earth  that  they  (the  bankers  and  gov- 
ernments) are  all  mistaken,  and  that  there  is  not  such 
an  awful  lot  of  silver  as  is  supposed,  things  would 
come  back  to  the  old  times  again,  the  governments 
singing  the  same  old  song  of  '  Come  on,  boys,  with  all 
the  silver  or  gold  you  can  scare  up,  and  we  will  give 
you  a  price  that  is  fair  to  all  concerned,  and  when  we 
fix  the  price  we  will  stand  by  it.'  The  fact  remains 
that  the  miners  have  not  succeeded  in  satisfactorily 
answering  the  question,  and  now  the  governments  and 
bankers  only  want  one  kind  of  metal  for  money,  as 
after  paying  for  all  the  gold  that  is  presented  they 
would  not  have  enough  money  left  to  pay  for  all  the 
silver  that  would  come  pouring  in.  One  kind  of  metal 
is  or  ought  to  be  sufficient  for  a  standard,  and  silver 
can  be  bought  in  small  amounts  by  the  governments 
to  use  for  '  change,'  the  same  as  they  buy  copper  and 
nickel  for  the  smaller  pieces  of  change,  like  pennies 
and  nickels." 

Micky  told  Ed  that  his  explanation  was  quite  easy 
to  understand,  and  he  supposed  the  kite  business  was 
in  the  same  position. 

"  Yes,"  said  Ed,  "  the  term  '  supply  and  demand' 
steps  in  and  takes  a  part  in  the  problem  of  values.  If 
kites  grew  on  trees,  and  you  had  to  raise  and  take  care 
of  a  kjte-tree  grove,  from  which  you  wished  to  sell 
one  hundred  thousand  kites  per  year  at  two  cents  each 
to  satisfy  the  entire  demand  for  kites  that  would  come 
from  exactly  one  hundred  thousand  boys,  then  every- 
thing would  go  on  all  right  and  well,  and  you  would 
get  rich  if  you  had  the  monopoly ;  but  if  some  Robinson 
Crusoe  came  back  from  a  long  voyage  and  told  of  an 
unknown  and  previously  undiscovered  island  full  of 
kite  trees  growing  wild,  from  which  fell  like  leaves 
to  the  ground  five  hundred  million  kites  every  autumn 
in  each  year,  then  I  guess  you  would  have  to  go  out 


THE    SILVER    QUESTION.  1 1/ 

of  the  kite  manufacturing  business,  as  kites  could  be 
brought  over  by  the  ship-load  from  that  island  cheap 
enough  to  sell  to  the  boys  at  the  rate  of  fifty-seven  of 
them  for  a  cent." 

This  last  suggestion  rather  startled  Micky,  and  so 
disturbed  his  slumbers  that  night  that  he  worried 
whether  the  whole  world  had  actually  been  fully  dis- 
covered and  explored.  If  not,  then  there  might  be  any 
morning  an  announcement  in  the  papers  of  a  new 
island  or  new  country  found  where  kites  actually  grew. 
The  result  would  be  that  his  whole  kite  business  would 
be  "  busted." 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

WEALTH. 

A  FEW  evenings  later  Micky  said  that  while  he  was 
down  at  "  Thurber's"  he  heard  some  of  those  Senators 
and  Congressmen  in  their  discussion  say  that  there 
ought  to  be  only  one  standard,  and  that  it  should  be 
a  "  Gold  Standard ;"  and  he  had  been  thinking  over 
how  Ed  had  explained  the  silver  question,  and  sup- 
posed that  the  explanation  in  some  way  answered  also 
why  there  should  be  only  a  single  or  gold  standard 
adopted;  but  the  whole  question  was  so  immense  for 
a  fellow  of  his  size  to  swallow  that  he  would  like  to 
have  Ed  make  it  a  little  clearer  to  him,  if  he  could, 
what  was  meant  by  the  gold  standard. 

Ed  sat  quiet  for  at  least  ten  minutes  before  he  opened 
his  mouth.  All  the  rest  of  them  kept  still  for  fear  of 
disturbing  his  meditations,  for  they  felt  sure  his 
thinking  cap  was  getting  wound  up  and  would  soon  be 
ready  to  work,  which  was  exactly  the  case,  for  at  the 
end  of  the  interval  he  said : 

"  Micky  has  just  stated  that  the  whole  question  is 
too  immense  for  a  fellow  of  his  size  to  swallow ;  but 
if  he  will  only  look  at  the  whole  subject  at  one  glance 
by  taking  a  bird's-eye  view  of  it,  then  it  will  be  easy 


WEALTH.  119 

to  understand.  The  great  trouble  with  people  is  that 
they  do  not  look  at  the  whole  thing  at  once,  but  take  it 
in  sections  and  then  get  mixed  up.  If  a  man  should 
stand  on  an  elevation  and  take  a  bird's-eye  view  of  or 
look  down  into  an  immense  maze,  he  would  perceive 
all  of  it  at  a  glance  and  see  the  way  in  and  the  way  out 
of  the  passageways  in  the  puzzling  thing;  but  if  he 
got  down  on  the  ground  level  and  walked  into  the 
maze,  he  would  soon  get  mixed  up  in  the  intricacies 
of  the  arrangement  and  wish  he  had  not  come.  Now," 
continued  Ed,  "  the  great  trouble  with  people  is  that 
they  think  there  is  an  awful,  prodigious,  unthinkable 
aggregation  or  quantity  of  movable  things  on  this 
earth  that  people  have  manufactured  and  own,  or,  in 
other  words,  an  immensity  of  personal  property  or 
made  things,  and  it  appalls  them  to  think  of  the  enor- 
mousness  of  it.  They  are  afraid  to  tackle  the  subject, 
but  when  you  come  to  boil  it  down  there  is  not  so  much 
personal  property  or  so  many  chattels  after  all." 

"  Not  so  much  after  all  ?"  said  Micky  in  surprise ; 
"  why,  what  do  you  mean  ?  Are  there  not  houses  and 
stores  and  pavements  and  furniture  and  things  to  eat 
and  wear  and  ships  and  boats  and  railroads  and  iron 
and  lead  and  copper  and  silver  and  gold  and  everything 
else,  and  don't  you  call  that  very  much?" 

"  No,"  said  Ed,  "  it  is  not  so  very  much  if  you  would 
bring  it  all  together  brick  by  brick  and  board  by  board 
and  rail  by  rail  and  stone  by  stone,  and  all  the  solid 
metal  and  everything  just  as  man  manufactured  or 
quarried  or  mined  it,  just  the  solid  stuff  as  it  was 
before  it  was  built  into  houses  or  made  into  furniture 
or  clothing,  or  all  that  originally  grew  out  of  or  was 
formed  in  the  ground. 

"  If  you  could  bring  everything  that  is  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  to-day  that  man  has  manufactured  with 
his  hands  or  with  machinery,  everything  that  man 
owns  in  the  world,  that  he  has  made  or  altered  or 


I2O  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

changed  from  one  thing  to  another,  and  pile  it  tip  in 
one  mass  as  a  monument  to  man's  wonderful  material 
achievements  on  the  earth,  so  that  the  coming  genera- 
tions would  travel  or  make  a  pilgrimage  there  to  see 
all  that  was  left  of  what  their  ancestors  for  six  thou- 
sand years  had  done,  why,  it  would  not  be  over  a 
mile  high  and  only  fill  up  a  valley  a  very  few  miles 
long,  and  people  could  get  on  top  of  the  surrounding 
mountain  peaks  and  look  down  at  it  in  surprise,  it 
would  be  so  small ;  and  if  you  would  lay  the  whole  pile 
down  on  the  plains  out  West,  it  would  only  look  like 
a  respectable  ant-hill,  compared  with  the  great,  far- 
sweeping  Rocky  Mountain  area;  and  the  gods  of  the 
Grecians  and  Romans  would  sit  on  the  floating  clouds 
and  look  down  and  laugh  at  it  and  joke  among  them- 
selves at  man's  boastful  but  diminutive  collection  of 
earthly  manufactured  material." 

Micky  laid  down  the  unfinished  kite  he  had  in  his 
hand,  and  for  the  first  and  only  time  lost  his  confidence 
in  Ed.  He  looked  at  him  for  two  minutes  in  blank 
astonishment,  and  then  said :  "  Why,  I  bet  you  there 
are  more  houses  and  stuff  in  Cincinnati  alone  than 
would  make  a  pile  a  mile  high  and  a  few  miles  long." 

Ed  shook  his  head  and  simply  said,  "  No." 

Micky  then  said :  "  Why,  can't  I  see  it  with  my  own 
eyes — all  these  houses,  factories,  stores,  warehouses, 
and  everything  around  the  whole  city?  I'll  bet  you 
it  would  make  three  or  four  cubic  miles  in  itself  of 
solid  piled-up  stuff,  let  alone  all  the  rest  of  the  things 
that  must  be  around  and  over  the  world  somewhere." 

Ed  sat  quiet  for  a  few  minutes  thinking,  and  then 
quietly  said :  "  Why,  Micky,  all  the  houses  and  stores 
and  goods  and  everything  in  the  whole  United  States 
now  on  hand  or  that  have  been  moved  and  sold  if 
brought  together  and  put  in  one  solid  mass,  would 
not  amount  to  half  that  pile  you  say  is  in  Cincinnati 
alone.  Why,  Micky,  the  whole  of  the  stuff  in  the 


WEALTH.  121 

United  States  would  not  pile  up  three  cubic  miles. 
Please  remember,  I  am  not  speaking  of  the  value  of 
the  chattels,  but  of  the  bulk." 

Micky  did  not  answer  for  a  few  minutes,  for  he  was 
roaming  all  over  the  city  of  Cincinnati  in  his  mind, 
thinking  of  the  block  after  block  of  factories  and 
houses  and  stores  and  of  their  immense  contents,  and 
then  when  he  could  stand  it  no  longer  he  said :  "  Ed, 
I'll  bet  you're  not  in  it.  I'll  bet  you're  away  off." 

Fred  and  Sally  both  silently  sided  with  Micky,  but 
kept  quiet  and  wondered  that  Micky  had  nerve  enough 
to  dispute  anything  Ed  said,  even  if  it  was  not  so. 

Micky  stuck  to  his  point,  which  resulted  in  Sally, 
by  request,  getting  her  slate  and  commencing  to  figure. 
The  figuring  and  discussion  continued  during  the 
evenings  of  nearly  two  weeks,  and  every  item  when  it 
was  properly  calculated,  "  flattened  out,"  reduced  to 
cubic  measure,  and  approved  by  Ed,  was  put  down  on 
a  piece  of  paper.  They  had  all  passed  "  cubic  measure" 
in  their  arithmetic  class  at  school,  and  were  up  on  the 
the  subject. 

Their  manner  of  arriving  at  the  result  was  by  cal- 
culation that  there  were  seventy  million  people  in  the 
United  States,  and  that  they  all  had  or  ought  to  have 
homes,  and  there  ought  not  to  be  over  five  persons  on 
an  average  to  a  house,  and  some  houses  ought  to  be 
large  and  some  small;  and  at  last,  after  considerable 
disputing,  it  was  agreed  upon  as  to  what  an  average- 
sized  house  should  be.  Then  they  calculated  the  cubic 
contents  of  all  the  material  in  the  walls,  floors,  roofs, 
and  partitions,  and  when  that  was  done  it  was  put 
down  on  a  sheet  of  wrapping  paper  under  the  heading 
of  "  houses."  Next  there  ought  to  be  a  certain  number 
of  stores  to  a  certain  number  of  people,  and  then  the 
average  size  of  same  with  their  contents  and  cubic 
measure  of  its  construction  was  tabulated.  Next  came 
factories,  next  Government  buildings,  next  rails  and 


122  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

railroad  ties  and  bridges,  next  wooden  and  stone 
fences,  next  paving  stones,  then  clothing,  furniture, 
and  food,  and  a  hundred  things  that  people  ought  to 
have,  including  iron  and  other  ores,  and  gold  and  silver, 
and  also  diamonds  and  gems  and  everything  they  could 
think  of. 

It  was  a  wonderful  schooling  and  a  never-ceasing 
fountain  of  information  for  them  in  after  years. 

The  thing  that  astonished  them  was  to  find  out  that 
all  the  gold  that  people  and  banks  and  the  Government 
owned  in  the  United  States  and  in  the  whole  world, 
if  melted  into  one  solid  mass,  would  not  be  enough 
to  fill  the  cellar  in  which  they  were  working. 

One  of  the  things  they  learned  about  was  specific 
gravities,  or  the  weight,  and  then  the  value  of  a  cubic 
foot  of  the  various  commodities ;  and  when  they  found 
that  all  the  silver  in  the  United  States  and  in  the  world 
would  not  make  a  pile  as  large  as  their  school-house, 
they  had  a  good  laugh,  and  wondered  why  people  were 
making  such  an  awful  fuss  about  a  little  pile  of  silver 
like  that. 

And  then  they  found  that  all  the  iron  would  not  pile 
an  eighth  of  a  cubic  mile,  and  that  all  the  railroad  rails 
would  not  cover  a  square  mile  ten  inches  high,  and  that 
all  the  railroad  ties  would  not  cover  the  square  mile 
two  feet  high.  The  largest  pile  of  anything  was  their 
collection  of  mortar,  bricks,  and  stone  material  of  the 
United  States,  which  was  less  than  a  cubic  mile,  and 
they  laughed  at  that,  for  it  was  not  near  as  much  as 
the  cubic  contents  of  Pike's  Peak ;  and  it  caused  them 
much  amusement  to  think  that  all  of  man's  building 
material  on  the  earth  to-day  that  had  accumulated 
during  six  thousand  years  was  not  equal  to  the  size 
of  one  respectable  mountain  peak  with  its  foot-hills. 
They  immediately  had  a  howling  contempt  for  the 
boastful  "  heaven-high  building  intentions"  of  the 


WEALTH.  123 

workers  on  the  Tower  of  Babel,  and  Micky  said  that 
the  "  whole  ancient  blinky  crowd  ought  ter  have  had 
Sally  there  to  kalkerate  for  dem  before  dey  commenced 
such  a  foolish  building  job." 

At  last  when  everything  they  could  think  of  in  the 
United  States  was  averaged  and  calculated,  Fred  sug- 
gested that  all  the  people  be  thrown  into  the  pile,  and 
it  amused  them  very  much  to  find  out  that  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  United  States  in  one  crowd  could 
stand  on  less  than  the  area  of  Cincinnati. 

Sally  added  up  the  total  cubic  feet  of  everything  and 
divided  it  into  cubic  miles,  and  announced  two  and 
three  twenty-eighth  cubic  miles.  When  the  answer  was 
repeated  Micky  gave  up  kite-making  for  the  evening, 
and,  leaning  over  Sally's  shoulder,  went  over  the  vari- 
ous items  and  said :  "  Is  dat  all  der  is?"  Then,  sitting 
down,  he  said :  "  If  dat  is  all  der  is  in  der  whole 
bloomin'  United  States,  then  wid  all  our  combined 
genius  I  don't  think  it  would  be  very  much  of  a  job  to 
scoop  in  and  own  der  whole  thing ;"  and  then  he  apolo- 
gized to  Ed  for  doubting  his  statements,  and  they  bid 
one  another  good-night.  Micky  hardly  slept,  for  he 
was  scheming  how  he  could  get  everything  in  the 
United  States  that  was  in  that  little  contemptible  cubic 
pile  into  the  possession  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt. 

The  next  evening  Micky  said  to  Ed  that  he  wished 
he  would  go  on  with  his  explanation  of  the  "  gold 
standard,"  which  was  interfered  with  by  his  taking 
exception  to  the  statement  about  the  cubic  contents  of 
the  earth's  visible  store  of  fashioned  material ;  then  Ed, 
after  thinking  awhile,  said  people  could  get  along 
without  money,  but  it  would  be  very  inconvenient,  as 
something  easy  to  carry  and  small  and  valuable  and 
acceptable  to  everybody  is  needed  for  a  medium  to  buy 
things  when  wanted.  If  the  governments  said  iron 
should  be  money,  it  would  provoke  people,  because 


124  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

there  is  so  much  of  it  and  it  is  so  easy  to  get  and, 
besides,  so  inconvenient  to  carry  around.  If  the  Gov- 
ernment said  a  small,  round  piece  of  iron  the  size  of 
a  silver  fifty-cent  piece  should  pass  for  a  dollar,  then 
such  a  dollar  would  be  a  legal  tender,  and  every  person 
would  be  obliged  to  take  it ;  but  it  would  be  in  a  certain 
manner  a  waste  of  iron,  for  if  the  Government  wanted 
the  people  to  have  cheap  money  like  that,  they  might 
just  as  well  stamp  the  wrord  dollar  on  a  nickel  piece  and 
call  it  a  dollar,  instead  of  calling  it  a  five-cent  piece ; 
but  if  the  Government  insisted  on  it,  then  the 'people 
would  have  to  take  the  nickel  piece  for  a  dollar.  • 

"  Now,  if  our  country  had  an  immense  high  Chinese 
wall  around  it,  and  no  person  or  thing  was  allowed  to 
come  in  or  go  out,  then  the  little  nickel  dollar  would 
be  as  satisfactory  as  a  piece  of  paper  that  costs  less  to 
get  and  make  than  a  nickel,  and  will  pass  for  a  dollar 
the  same  as  a  dollar  bill  or  a  fifty-dollar  bill  or  a 
hundred-dollar  bill,  just  as  the  government  sees  fit  to 
change  the  type  and  make  the  same  piece  of  paper  good 
for  a  thousand-dollar,  instead  of  a  one-dollar  note  if 
they  want  to. 

"  But  if  we  tear  down  that  big  wall  around  our 
country  and  look  outside,  we  will  find  there  are  '  other 
pebbles  on  the  beach,'  there  are  other  nations  than 
ourselves,  and  we  cannot  compel  them  to  do  as  we  want 
them  to  do.  We  cannot  hold  a  pistol  to  their  heads 
and  order  them  to  take  our  iron  or  nickel  or  silver 
money. 

"  Those  outside  nations,  as  well  as  we,  have  their 
ideas  of  what  money  should  be  made  of,  and  whatever 
they  say  has  to  be  the  law  of  their  land  for  buying  and 
selling  among  themselves. 

"  But  when  it  comes  to  the  various  nations  buying 
things  of  each  other,  they  have  the  privilege  to  refuse 
to  take  any  other  kind  of  money  than  their  own  for 
their  goods. 


WEALTH.  125 

"  If  there  are  two  or  three  kinds  of  money  that  every 
nation  is  willing  to  take  from  the  others,  then  there  is 
no  trouble;  but  at  the  present  time  gold  money  is  the 
only  thing  that  each  is  willing  to  take  of  the  other,  and 
that  settles  it,  unless  you  send  over  a  few  ironclads 
and  an  army  and  make  them  take  whatever  you  in- 
sist on. 

"  The  seventy-five  million  people  of  the  United 
States  are  not  willing  to  leave  their  homes  and  go 
abroad  to  '  lick'  the  rest  of  the  sixteen  hundred  million 
people  in  the  world  and  make  them  our  abject  slaves 
and  compel  them  to  do  just  as  we  say.  So  we  cannot 
have  our  own  way,  and  must  join  the  majority.  The 
majority  of  the  nations  want  only  gold,  and  so  gold 
becomes  the  single  standard  between  the  nations.  We 
can  have  a  gold,  a  silver,  a  lead,  a  copper,  a  nickel,  or 
a  paper  standard  among  ourselves  here  in  the  United 
States  if  we  want  to;  but  when  we  come  to  owe  money 
to  our  neighboring  nations  we  have  to  settle  in  their 
own  gold  standard  or  fight  it  out  or  quit  buying  of 
them,  and  that  is  all  there  is  to  the  silver  question  and 
single  standard  question  until  we  can  talk  them  into  it, 
if  we  have  a  good  argument;  but  up  to  the  present 
time  our  arguments  have  not  prevailed,  and  gold  is  the 
single  and  only  standard  now  in  general  international 
use." 

Ed  then  said :  "  What  I  wanted  to  explain  to  you 
when  you  disagreed  with  my  statement  about  the 
quantity  of  earthly  things  was  the  real  insignificance 
of  the  aggregate  of  all  the  things  that  man  has  made 
since  the  beginning  of  the  world  and  that  are  now  on 
hand ;  that  they  were  utterly  small  compared  with  the 
awful  mass  that  people  generally  supposed  was  scat- 
tered over  the  earth ;  and  then,  lastly,  to  show  that  if 
a  person  could  only  grasp  all  there  was  at  one  glance, 
he  would  not  be  bothered  in  his  mind  by  chasing  all 
over  the  world  to  think  of  it.  In  order,  however,  to 


126  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

bring  it  easily  before  the  mind  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt, 
I  will  at  some  future  time  commence  away  back  at 
the  beginning  of  things  and  give  you  a  bird's-eye  view 
of  wealth." 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

BLAVATSKY. 

IN  the  retrospect  of  life  we  often  find  that  the  prin- 
cipal guide-posts  directing  our  pathway  are  incidents 
in  our  history  that  corroborate  the  trite  saying,  "It  is 
the  unexpected  that  always  happens,"  and  when  we 
more  accurately  survey  our  past  and  look  for  an  ex- 
planation, we  find  that  many  persons  designate  our 
guide-posts  as  merely  "  chance."  Their  conclusion 
is  unwarranted,  for  every  life  is  directed  or  guided  by 
some  unseen  force  ever  impelling  it  onward  and  on- 
ward, and  it  is  our  own  will  or  inherent  power  or  de- 
termination, or,  per  contra,  our  leniency  with  our- 
selves that  sends  us  onward  and  upward,  or  onward 
and  downward. 

Many  persons  are  imbued  with  the  thought  that 
there  is  a  spirit  or  intelligent  force  of  some  kind  that 
ever  hovers  over  and  around  us,  calling  upon  the 
secret  forces  of  nature  to  assist  in  securing  a  certain 
wished-for  happy  and  glorious  end  or  result,  while  at 
the  same  time  they  say  that  there  is  another  resist- 
ing force  ever  trying  to  annoy  and  thwart  or  destroy 
the  better  impulses  that  would  lead  us  to  the  green 
pastures  and  still  waters  of  success. 


128  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

We  see  this  enemy  all  around  us  in  material  objects. 
There  seems  to  be  nothing  of  atomic  construction 
that  can  resist  the  ravages  of  time.  Everything  in  the 
animal  and  vegetable  world  strives  in  its  own  way  to 
accomplish  the  mission  for  which  it  was  given 
existence,  but  when  it  draws  toward  its  end  it  finds 
nothing  to  look  back  to  but  a  continual  fight  for  exist- 
ence. 

Back  of  the  curtain  that  hides  our  vision  are  unseen 
controlling  forces  which  in  some  manner  or  way  in- 
fluence our  hourly  and  daily  existence.  Magnetism, 
hypnotism,  clairvoyance,  spiritualism,  guides,  and 
other  terms  give  expression  to  that  unknown  force  or 
power.  Many  persons  with  one  majestic  sweep  of  the 
hand  flippantly  wave  the  subject  out  of  the  category 
of  even  implied  existence  and  call  it  humbug  or  fraud ; 
but  science  comes  to  the  rescue  and  says  there  is  some- 
thing, but  candidly  acknowledges  it  does  not  know 
what  it  is.  In  its  dilemma  it  looks  with  pity  upon  a 
non-investigator  who  has  the  audacity  to  belittle  such 
mystery  without  even  attempting  to  approach  it. 

"  Ignorance  was  bliss"  to  Micky,  for  he  had  never 
heard  of  hypnotism  or  clairvoyance  or  anything  mys- 
terious, excepting  ghosts.  Ghosts  were  an  unknown 
but" tangible  quantity  to  Micky;  he  had  never  seen 
one,  but  had  heard  so  much  about  them  and  believed 
in  them  to  such  an  extent  that  if  any  boy  had  said  in 
his  presence  that  there  was  nothing  of  the  kind,  he 
would  unhesitatingly  in  youth's  language  have  called 
him  a  falsifier.  Ghosts  were  a  reality  to  Micky,  and 
he  wanted  to  give  them  as  wide  a  degree  of  latitude 
and  longitude  as  possible. 

He  had  once  heard  some  people  talking  about 
Theosophists,  Mahatmas,  reincarnations,  and  such 
things,  but  it  was  all  Greek  to  him,  except  that  the 
whole  conversation  flavored  of  something  uncanny 
and  sounded  very  much  like  ghost  stories.  That  he 


BLAVATSKY.  I2Q 

should  ever  come  under  the  influence  of  anything  of 
the  kind  was  an  undreamable  and  unthought-of 
proposition;  but  one  evening  it  came  all  the  same,  and 
made  an  impression  on  his  life  that  was  never  effaced. 

The  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt,  with  their  counsellor 
and  fair  young  treasurer,  had  been  indulging  in  con- 
versation relative  to  the  kite  business  in  particular, 
and  the  commerce  of  the  world  in  general,  and  Micky 
had  repeated  for  the  twentieth  time  that  he  saw  no 
reason  why  Flynn  &  Schmidt  could  not  own  the 
whole  continent  if  they  tried.  Fred  twitted  him  re- 
garding his  "  cheek"  in  wanting  to  own  the  whole 
earth,  and  Sally  had  nettled  him  by  saying  he  had 
better  leave  a  little  something  or  other  for  Queen  Vic- 
toria and  King  William,  and  Ed  had  entered  into  a 
long  dissertation  on  the  subject  of  legal  and  illegal 
possession,  and  by  the  arrival  of  the  time  for  the  usual 
parting,  Micky  had  been  quite  severely  crushed,  or, 
rather,  in  their  own  language,  considerably  "  sat  down 
on;"  and  when  Ed  and  Fred  had  said  good-night  and 
had  gone,  he  found  himself  alone  with  Sally,  who  had 
fallen  into  a  deep  sleep. 

The  cellar  was  only  dimly  lighted  by  one  small 
tallow  candle  that  was  flickering  and  flickering,  and 
shooting  its  faint  and  dying  Vays  into  the  far  corners 
back  of  Micky  where  the  shadows  fell  deepest.  He 
felt  sad  that  his  friends  were  unable  to  appreciate  the 
wish  to  possess  the  world  that  dominated  his  breast. 
He  felt  lonely,  and  the  silence  grew  oppressive.  He 
thought  of  himself  as  a  unit  in  the  wide,  wide  world. 
Sixteen  hundred  million  people  were  on  the  globe, 
but  there  he  sat  in  an  humble  cellar,  disappointed  in 
not  having  one  single  heart  to  respond  tO'  a  gigantic 
wish  that  seemed  to  him  only  an  easy  task  in  its  ac- 
complishment; but  he  had  earnestness,  the  one  thing 
essential  in  life. 

Micky  was  in  earnest,  and  sitting  up  close  to  the 


I3O  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

work  table,  he  planted  his  elbows  on  a  pile  of  tissue- 
paper  and  then  pressed  his  two  cheeks  down  against 
his  clenched  fists,  and  with  knit  brow  thought  of  the 
whole  world  as  traced  on  the  map  that  Sally  had 
drawn  and  later  had  filled  up  writh  data  regarding  com- 
merce. He  was  absorbed  in  himself,  and  the  candle 
burned  lower  and  lower,  and  the  cellar  corners  and 
shadows  grew  darker  and  darker,  and  the  silence  grew 
intenser,  and  the  cold  shivers  played  over  his  body, 
and  his  frown  grew  deeper  and  deeper,  and  his  heart 
beat  harder  and  faster,  and  he  certainly  would  have 
fallen  into  a  stupor  if  he  had  not  been  awakened  by  the 
sudden  echoing  from  the  cellar  walls  and  ceiling — 
the  repeated  reverberations  of  his  own  deep,  agoniz- 
ing voice  saying  determinedly  and  slowly,  "  I  will  own 
it  all." 

When  the  last  echo  died  away  there  came  an  un- 
earthly, blood-curdling  thump  or  knock  from  directly 
beneath  his  elbows,  and  the  table  was  lifted  up  ten 
inches  from  the  floor,  the  jarringalmost  extinguishing 
the  last  gasping  of  the  struggling  candle.  He  gave  one 
look  of  alarm  toward  Sally,  but  saw  her  reclining  five 
feet  away  in  the  calmest  and  deepest  of  slumbers.  To 
say  Micky  was  frightened  is  not  sufficiently  expressive. 
His  first  thought  was  of  ghosts.  His  jaw  dropped  two 
inches,  but  when,  almost  immediately,  a  second  louder 
thump  and  higher  movement  of  the  table  followed  he 
fell  backward,  chair  and  all,  into  one  heap  on  the 
floor.  He  lay  cuddled  up  in  a  ball  for  a  full  half- 
minute  without  breathing,  with  both  arms  entwined 
around  his  head,  and  with  one  foot  lifted  upward 
toward  the  table  to  protect  himself  from  whatever  it 
might  be  that  was  ghostly  or  ghastly  that  did  the 
knocking. 

Gradually  he  opened  one  eye  and,  peeping  out,  was 
grateful  to  know  that  the  candle  was  still  burning  and 
that  he  was  alive;  but  the  silence,  however,  was  op- 


BLAVATSKY.  13! 

pressive,  and  all  he  could  hear  was  at  intervals  the 
deep  breathing  of  Sally.  He  waited  half  a  minute 
longer,  and  was  about  to  jump  up  and  run  to  his  sister 
when  another  more  uncanny  knock  on  the  table  came 
that  brought  his  heart  almost  up  in  his  throat,  and 
caused  him  once  more  to  lie  low  and  cover  up  his  face 
and  head  with  his  arms,  and  kick  one  foot  and  leg 
upward  toward  the  table  to  defend  himself  from  its 
nameless  awfulness.  It  was  two  minutes  before  he 
again  ventured  to  open  an  eye,  which  in  the  oppressive 
silence  he  slowly  accomplished,  and  then,  after  wait- 
ing a  few  seconds,  he  jumped  up  with  almost  the  speed 
of  a  bounding  ball,  thinking  to  awaken  Sally  and  run 
for  the  cellar  steps;  but  he  had  hardly  risen  to  his  feet 
when  he  stopped  and  stood  like  a  frigid  statue,  for  as 
he  rose  he  saw  the  heavy  work  table  lifted  like  a  feather 
from  off  the  floor  and  ascend  almost  to  the  ceil- 
ing; it  sailed  around  in  the  air  and  came  gently  and 
softly  down  in  front  of  the  stairs,  completely  blocking 
his  exit.  He  tried  to  scream,  but  his  throat  seemed 
frozen;  he  tried  to  start  or  run  to  Sally,  but  he  was  as 
immovable  as  the  cellar  wall;  and  all  the  while  sweetly 
slumbering  was  his  unconscious  sister. 

He  stood  for  a  minute,  and  then,  horror  of  horrors, 
the  candle  went  out,  and  all  was  dark,  and  he  could 
hear  his  heart  beat ;  then  came  a  low,  ghostly  moan  or 
wail  close  to  his  ear,  suddenly  changing  to  a  sweet, 
gentle  sound  and  then  to  a  murmuring  strain,  and  in 
turn  to  a  lulling  tune.  He  felt  himself  growing  warm 
and  the  blood  flowed  back  to  his  cheeks;  then  came 
little  sparks  of  light  floating  around  in  the  darkness, 
and  then  longer  flashes;  and  as  the  flashes  lengthened 
the  strains  of  music  filled  the  whole  place  and  he 
seemed  fairly  floating  in  an  ocean  of  melody;  and 
when  he  was  almost  lifted  to  the  seventh  heaven  of 
ecstasy,  it  all  suddenly  ended  with  a  crash  and  a  bang, 
like  to  the  sound  of  an  awful  peal  of  thunder  and  cym- 


132  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

bals.  Micky  in  the  intense  darkness  dropped  on  the 
floor  like  a  collapsed  balloon,  for  with  the  crashing 
noise  the  sparkling  light  disappeared,  and  he  heard 
nothing  in  the  silent  darkness  but  the  deep  breathing 
of  Sally. 

For  ten  minutes  Micky  did  not  move  a  muscle;  he 
had  his  senses,  but  was  afraid  to  stir.  At  last  he 
raised  himself  up,  and  as  he  did  so  the  sparkling  light 
returned.  He  gazed  around  and  saw  the  table  noise- 
lessly and  slowly  lifted  without  hands  from  the  floor 
and  sail  gently  around  and  around  in  the  air.  Then 
it  settled  slowly  down  on  the  floor  directly  over  him, 
leaving  him  beneath  it;  then  up  again  the  table  slowly 
rose  until  it  reached  the  ceiling  and  rested.  Some 
unseen  force  lifted  him  up  to  the  ceiling,  turned  him 
over  and  placed  his  back  against  the  underside  of  the 
table,  and  left  him,  with  arms  and  limbs  outstretched, 
suspended,  face  downward. 

For  a  seeming  half  an  hour,  amid  the  strange  light 
and  the  intense  silence,  he  remained  there  unable  to 
move  or  scream  or  call  for  help,  while  down  below  him 
he  could  see  Sally  sleeping  in  the  deepest  sleep,  not 
another  soul  being  in  sight.  Then  the  table  slowly 
descended  to  its  accustomed  place;  the  bench  or  chair 
righted  itself  to  where  it  belonged,  and  Micky  felt 
himself  gently  wafted  from  beneath  the  table  and 
around  and  around  through  the  air,  and  at  last  once 
again  he  found  himself  in  his  accustomed  place,  sitting 
just  as  he  was  before,  with  his  cheeks  against  his  fists 
and  his  elbows  on  the  table.  But  it  was  now  all  dark, 
and  Micky  said  to  himself,  "  What  a  strange  dream  I 
have  had!"  and  was  about  to  rise  and  awaken  his 
sister  and  go  upstairs,  when  there  came  a  deep  voice 
from  out  of  the  darkness, slowly  and  solemnly  saying: 
"  What  you  have  seen  and  heard  is  not  a  (Jream,  ex- 
cept as  life  is  all  a  dream;"  and  then  came  a  strange 
noise  and  a  blinding  light,  and  suddenly  appeared  be- 


BLAVATSKY.  133 

fore  him,  at  Sally's  side,  an  aged  woman,  with  electrical 
sparks  and  flashes  encircling  her  body,  with  lightning 
flowing  from  her  hair  and  hands  and  fingers,  all  gyrat- 
ing around  her  with  brilliant  kaleidoscopic  effect.  She 
was  wrinkled  and  gray,  but  beneath  it  all  was  the  trace 
of  a  fair  young  face.  For  five  minutes  she  looked 
steadily  yet  kindly  at  Micky,  who  was  too  completely 
scared  to  move  or  say  a  word ;  she  did  not  remove  her 
gaze  until  suddenly,  with  a  tone  of  authority,  she 
calmly  and  slowly  said,  "  I  am  Blavatsky,"  and  imme- 
diately with  her  announcement  came  a  clapping  as  of 
thunder  and  the  cellar  beamed  with  a  thousand  times 
the  splendor  of  day,  and  the  name  of  Blavatsky  was 
flashed  in  the  letters  of  a  hundred  different  languages 
around  the  walls. 

The  word  Blavatsky  struck  a  thousand  terrors  to 
poor  Micky's  soul.  He  had  never  heard  of  her  before, 
but  it  sounded  so  much  like  the  name  of  a  man  in  the 
neighborhood  who  had  been  hanged  for  boiling  alive 
and  devouring  two  small  boys,  that  Micky  was  now 
more  than  a  million  times  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  a 
horrible  ogreish  ending  to  his  ambitious  life.  Then 
came  Blavatsky's  voice,  saying  in  deep  and  solemn 
tones: 

No  cause  for  fear  should  emanate  from  me; 
I  dwell  where  lives  the  essence  of  the  vast  eternity. 
On  earth  I  breathed  and  passed  allotted  days, 
But  did  not  garner  in  my  life  the  holier  ways 
That  soonest  earn  for  all  that  longed-for  rest, 
Where  in  the  joys  of  Karma  souls  are  blessed. 
I  came  from  other  spheres  before   I  flew  to  earth, 
Where,  in  the  ages  gone,  I  first  found  birth 
In  that  vague  thought  that  means  the  Ego,  I, 
That  ever  from  one  life  through  others  fly 
To  be  reincarnated  with  a  wish  for  blessed  goal, 
Where  upward  in  the  evolution  of  a  soul 


134  THE   KITE   TRUST. 

The  spirit  or  the  life  can  lodge  at  last 
With  its  earned  blessing  from  the  struggling  past. 
And  as  I  wandered  in  the  realms  of  space, 
I  saw  to-night  your  earnest,  upturned  face, 
And  read  the  thoughts  that  dominate  your  zeal, 
And  by  attraction  could  your  deepest  longings  feel. 
Thrice  happy  is  the  woman  who  gave  birth 
To  a  son  who  has  ambition  to  possess  an  earth. 
O'er  all  this  globe  there  is  no  one  like  you, 
Thoughts  so  overwhelming  only  come  to  few. 
Such  overtowering  grasping  is  indeed  quite  rare, 
No  one  has  lived  who  can  with  you  compare. 
Age  is  no  barrier  for  the  planting  soil 
Where  noblest  seed  develops  noblest  toil. 
A  child  can  be  the  channel  for  the  greatest  deed, 
And  you  shall  be  receptacle  for  fruitful  seed. 
The  Brotherhood  of  man  in  you  shall  surely  find 
A  leader  who  will  give  to  earth  a  holier  mind. 
Your  sleeping  sister  is  the  medium  through 
W'hich  mystic  knowledge  shall  unfold  to  you. 
And  from  the  spirit  land  through  her  I  call 
The  shade  of  one  whose  name  is  known  to  all. 
Josephus !  come !  I  summon  you  at  last 
To  give  this  youth -a  knowledge  of  the  buried  past. 

Immediately  a  flashing  light  illumined  the  whole 
place,  which  sent  Micky  almost  into  a  fit,  for  he  saw 
the  figure  of  a  man  suddenly  form  itself  from  out  of 
the  surrounding  nothingness  and  then  stand  beside 
the  sleeping  Sally.  It  was  a  clear  case  of  materializa- 
tion, but  as  Micky  had  never  heard  of  such  a  thing,  his 
overwhelming  dread  of  ghosts  almost  took  away  his 
breath,  and  he  certainly  would  have  dropped  dead  if 
he  had  not  been  won  back  to  his  senses  by  the  kindly 
voice  of  the  new  apparition,  saying: 

"  Do  not  fear  me,  lad,  you  are  safe  from  harm.  I 
am  the  spirit  of  Josephus,  an  historian  of  the  long  ago, 


BLAVATSKY.  135 

and  I  have  been  summoned  here  by  the  seeress  Bla- 
vatsky,  who  bids  me  talk  to  you  of  events  upon  this 
earth  occurring  millenniums  since.  Your  sister  is  also 
safe  from  danger,  but  cannot  yet  awaken,  as  it  is 
through  her  unconscious  life  I  am  enabled  to  appear 
to  you.  She  is  one  of  the  few  or  chosen  human  organ- 
isms that  have  inborn  adaptation  to  be  the  channel  or 
medium  through  which  spirits  passed  to  future  spheres 
can  reappear  to  men.  I  am  come  to  do  you  good,  to 
help  you  learn  of  unknown  things,  to  give  you  insight 
into  past  events  that  governed  all  the  commerce  of  an 
earth.  You  have  conceived  a  most  wondrous 
thought,  to  grasp  a  world,  and  boy  as  you  are,  have 
attracted  to  your  side  the  passed-on  spirits  of  most 
wondrous  souls.  Look  to  your  right  and  you  will  see 
Napoleon  come  again  to  earth." 

Micky  in  an  instant  looked  as  directed,  and  once 
more  lost  his  nerve,  for  there  beside  him,  as  natural  as 
life,  with  massive  brow,  piercing  eye,  drooping  head, 
and  hand  folded  within  his  bosom,  all  in  graceful  pose, 
stood  the  man  of  destiny,  thoughtful  and  silent,  gaz- 
ing at  Micky. 

"  Fear  n'ot,"  said  Josephus;  "  Napoleon  sought  to 
grasp  the  world  through  blood  and  war,  but  failed. 
He  will  ever  be  at  your  side  and  project  his  soul  within 
your  own.  He  sees  the  error  of  his  day;  he  lived  be- 
fore his  time;  this  age  in  which  you  live  is  the  era  of 
commerce,  and  could  Napoleon  live  to-day,  in  fifty 
years  the  earth  and  all  upon  it  would  be  his.  You 
have  conceived  his  thought  of  thoughts  to  own  a 
world,  and  in  you  will  the  genius  of  his  life  be  poured. 
Into  Napoleon  did  great  Qesar  pass;  in  Caesar  did 
great  Alexander  live;  in  Alexander  did  Alkimos, 
greatest  warrior  of  Atlantis,  dwell,  and  in  Alkimos 
was  reincarnated  the  warrior  Boeotarchus  of  your  pre- 
historic world,  he  who  dwelt  in  that  palatial  city  cov- 
ered now  with  your  Antarctic  ice.  So  through  your 


136  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

life  shall  all  these  gathered  ambitions  of  an  aeon  find 
its  vent. 

"  Look  on  your  left  and  see  the  wizard  Cagliostro, 
guardian  spirit  genius  that  hovers  ever  near  your  part- 
ner Fred." 

Micky  looked  and  nearly  fainted  at  the  presence  of 
another  ghost,  whose  eyes  almost  sent  a  dart  of  flame 
into  his  very  life;  but  Josephus  said:  "  Be  not  afraid; 
Cagliostro  has  rich  words  to  say,  but  not  just  yet. 
More  than  a  year  will  pass  before  he  gives  to  you  the 
secret  \visdom  of  alchemic  lore,  and  when  he  speaks 
your  partner  Fred  must  also  be  on  hand  to  hear. 

"  Look  once  again  and  see  behind  your  back  the 
hovering  spirit  genius  of  your  youthful  lawyer  friend. 
His  name  is  Dondros,  the  leading  legal  mind  of  a 
noble  civilization  long  extinct.  He  has  lived  over 
and  over  in  the  lives  of  giant  lawyers  through  two 
scores  of  thousand  years ;  he  also  will  pass  much  infor- 
mation to  you  when  Ed  is  by  at  some  near  future 
date. 

"  Now  look  once  more  at  the  side  of  where  your 
sister  sleeps,  and  see  a  woman  with  whom  none  other  of 
these  later  centuries  can  compare,  Madani  Guyon,  a 
soul  from  earth,  freighted  with  gentleness  and  love; 
she  is  the  guardian  angel  of  your  sister's  life,  and  she 
will  in  the  days  to  come  inform  you  how  when  power 
would  seek  companionship  with  noble  love,  that  earth 
will  then  have  fruitage  in  its  perfect  form." 

Josephus  then  proceeded,  saying :  "  I  have  been 
summoned  here  to  tell  you  of  the  past — the  buried 
past.  Much  can  I  say,  for  history  has  its  many  chan- 
nels, with  their  various  special  data  for  students' 
whims,  but  you  require  information  of  commercial 
ways,  and  wisdom  in  the  systems  that  give  finance  its 
strength  and  in  the  end  its  death;  and  so  in  that  direc- 
tion I  will  freight  you  with  knowledge  of  the  vastness 
and  the  ending  of  accumulated  wealth  that  will  be  a 


BLAVATSKY.  137 

partial    foundation    to    you    for    your    future    great 
career." 

During  the  first  of  this  conversation  of  Josephus, 
Micky  lived  a  day  of  agonizing  fright  for  every  minute 
it  lasted,  but  toward  the  close  his  confidence  returned 
and  a  feeling  came  over  him  that  now  there  was  some 
one  to  sympathize  with  him  in  his  wish  to  own  a 
world.  If  his  ideas  of  ghosts  were  correct  he  ought  to 
have  been  ground  to  powder  by  the  end  of  the  first 
three  seconds,  but  as  five  minutes  had  passed,  and  he 
was  still  alive,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
all  right,  and  so  in  a  short  time,  as  Josephus  proceeded 
with  his  talk,  Micky  became  an  open-mouthed  lis- 
tener, drinking  in  every  sentence  as  it  came,  and  for 
an  hour  in  the  presence  of  Blavatsky,  Napoleon,  Cag- 
liostro,  Dondros,  Guyon,  and  the  sleeping  Sally,  he 
sat  respectful  and  silent,  learning  of  things  that  to  him 
were  new  and  strange. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE    IRON    STANDARD. 

AFTER  the  formal  introduction  of  Micky  to  the 
"shades,"  Josephus — in  the  language  Micky  afterward 
used  in  relating  it  to  the  kite  firm — proceeded  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  Those  people  who  study  the  Bible  claim  that  the 
earth  has  been  peopled  for  six  thousand  years.  Others 
say  it  has  been  inhabited  for  six  thousand  million 
years;  but  their  disputes  make  no  difference  to  us,  so 
far  as  our  talk  to-night  is  concerned,  whether  it  is  six 
thousand  or  six  thousand  million,  for  there  is  not  a 
thing  left  on  the  earth  that  any  one  to-day  knows  of 
that  was  made  or  fashioned  by  man  back  of  only  a  little 
over  six  thousand  years.  Some  say  the  pyramids,  which 
are  the  oldest  monuments  on  earth,  were  erected  ten 
thousand  years  ago.  To  satisfy  such  chronologers,  we 
will  go  back  to  fifty  thousand  years,  if  necessary,  and 
commence  the  earth  at  that  date  with  nothing  of  man's 
handiwork,  just  as  you  would  find  it  if  you  went  to 
some  lonely  island  in  the  far-off  South  Pacific  Ocean 
to  begin,  like  Robinson  Crusoe,  to  raise  a  nation. 

"  So  we  will  say  that  fifty  thousand  years  ago  there 


THE    IRON    STANDARD.  139 

was  not  an  object  on  the  earth  that  man  had  made, 
because  there  had  never  been  a  human  or  intelligent 
being  there  to  make  anything.  Everything  that  was 
there  at  that  time  grew  of  itself.  There  were  some 
animals,  insects,  and  other  living  creatures,  and  trees 
and  other  vegetation. 

"  At  that  date,  50,000  B.C.,  a  lost  balloon  arrived  at 
your  uninhabited  earth  from  the  planet  Mars  with 
a  man  and  his  wife  and  a  small  colony  of  a  dozen  of 
their  neighbors.  They  had  been  sailing  in  the  air  for 
a  long  time,  and  their  provisions  had  given  out  arid 
they  were  hungry.  So  they  looked  around,  and  found 
fruit  and  vegetables  and  fish  and  game  and  plenty  of 
good  drinking'  water,  and  that  made  them  feel  better ; 
and  after  their  long  ballooning  experience  they  con- 
cluded that  as  there  were  eatables  and  drinkables 
around,  they  had  better  make  up  their  mind  to  settle 
and  stay,  and  not  venture  back  through  space  to  their 
old  home  sixty  million  miles  away.  They  afterward 
had  children  and  grandchildren,  and  they  died  and 
were  buried;  and  at  the  end  of  fifteen  hundred  years 
there  were  living  many  thousands  of  their  descendants, 
who,  finding  the  climate  cold,  had  learned  to  make 
clothing  to  wear  and  huts  to  shelter  them  from  storms. 
During  their  first  few  years  on  our  earth  everything 
they  made  belonged  to  the  whole  party,  and  there  was 
no  word  in  their  language  that  meant  '  mine'  and 
'  thine' ;  the  only  expression  of  that  kind  was  one 
word,  '  ours.'  They  were  all  like  a  loving  family  of 
father,  mother,  and  young  children,  not  knowing  any 
such  thing  as  selfishness ;  but  each  wanted  the-  other 
to  have  enough  of  whatever  there  was.  But  later  they 
grew  numerous,  and  divided  themselves  into  families, 
who  moved  hundreds  of  miles  apart ;  and  they  then  felt 
responsible  for  their  own  people  only  and  their  neigh- 
bors. It  was  all  the  men  could  do  to  find  time  to  raise 
food  from  the  ground  and  hunt  game ;  and  it  took  all 


140  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

the  time  of  the  women  to  spin  yarn,  make  clothes,  and 
cook  food,  as  none  of  them  had  any  inclination  to  go 
back  one  or  two  hundred  miles  or  so  to  visit  their  old 
friends  and  relatives.  Then  in  eighty  or  ninety  years 
the  great-grandchildren  forgot  their  fifth  cousins  and 
other  distant  relatives ;  and  as  they  did  not  know  how 
to  write,  and  there  were  no  books  or  newspapers  to 
read,  or  even  alphabets  to  form  words,  in  a  few  centu- 
ries they  were  forgotten  to  one  another  as  kindred,  and 
only  heard  of  each  other  through  those  who  were 
venturesome  enough  to  travel.  All  of  these  came  back 
and  told  their  friends  that  wherever  they  went  they 
found  unfamiliar  things  to  eat,  and  saw  other  kinds  of 
clothing  and  new  inventions ;  but  they  could  not  bring 
any  of  the  new  things  back  home,  because  they  them- 
selves, like  tramps,  had  nothing  to  give  in  exchange. 

"  But  later  one  of  these  travellers  who  had  returned 
home  thought  of  something  in  a  distant  settlement  he 
wanted;  he  concluded  to  go  after  it  and  take  some 
apples,  of  which  there  were  none  »in  that  far-off  place 
to  exchange,  or,  in  other  words,  to  pay  for  it.  But  he 
could  not  carry  such  a  large  quantity  of  fruit,  and  was 
about  to  give  up  the  trip  when  his  wife  asked  him  if 
they  did  not  need  some  sheep  up  there.  He  replied: 
'  Yes,  I  think  they  do.'  '  Then,'  said  the  wife,  '  why 
do  you  not  drive  up  some  of  our  sheep  ?  You  will  not 
have  to  carry  them  as  you  would  apples,  for  the  sheep 
can  carry  themselves.'  So  the  man  patted  his  wife  on 
the  shoulder  and  told  her  she  had  a  '  big  head ;'  and  he 
drove  up  a  lot  of  sheep  and  a  yoke  of  oxen,  paying  the 
stranger  the  sheep  for  the  goods  he  wanted,  which  were 
fifteen  buffalo  robes  and  a  wooden  sledge ;  then  he 
hitched  his  yoke  of  oxen  to  the  sledge,  and  thus  hauled 
his  buffalo  robes  home. 

"  After  that  sheep  became  the  money  or.  medium  of 
exchange  between  the  two  settlements,  and  the  custom 
spread  to  other  villages;  and  by  and  by  horses  were 


THE    IRON    STANDARD.  141 

added  to  the  list,  and  then  other  animals,  until  this  ani- 
mal money  became  quite  complicated ;  for  one  horse  was 
equal  to  ten  sheep,  and  one  cow  equal  to  five  sheep,  and 
one  sheep  equal  to  two  dogs,  and  one  dog  equal  to  four 
cats.  Things  were  getting  badly  mixed  as  to  the  kind 
or  breed  of  dogs  and  cats  that  were  to  be  given,  and 
some  one  said  he  wished  there  was  only  one  thing  used 
for  money,  or  a  single-standard  arrangement  for  ex 
changes;  but  as  there  was  not  a  single  standard, 
disputes  arose;  and,  having  forgotten  their  relation- 
ship, the  men  went  to  war,  and  had  unhappy  times 
generally,  until  one  day  a  man  made  a  great  discovery. 
He  found  a  piece  of  iron,  something  unheard  of  before, 
and  with  it  made  an  iron  hoe;  and  he  became  widely 
known  as  the  Man  with  the  Hoe.  Then  every  farmer 
wanted  an  iron  hoe ;  and  as  almost  every  person  needed 
one,  they  became  a  sort  of  single  standard  of  value. 
A  good-sized  hoe  was  worth  a  horse,  a  half-sized  hoe 
purchased  a  cow,  twenty  hoes  could  buy  a  hut,  and 
three  hoes  a  suit  of  clothes.  It  kept  on  in  this  way  for 
hundreds  of  years,  until  hoes  were  recognized  as 
money  over  the  whole  known  earth,  which  extended 
for  five  hundred  miles  in  all  directions  from  the  ancient 
Plymouth  Rock,  where  that  balloon  from  Mars  first 
landed. 

"  But  one  day  a  vast  deposit  of  heavy  rock  or  ore 
was  found  in  a  distant  province,  and  some  one  dis- 
covered that  by  burning  or  melting  this  heavy  rock 
they  could  extract  iron  out  of  it  at  very  slight  expense. 
They  erected  a  smelter  and  made  so  much  iron  that 
the  whole  system  of  '  hoe'  currency  ultimately  col- 
lapsed, for  a  company  of  a  hundred  men  could  now 
produce  as  much  iron  in  one  week  as  the  whole  known 
world  could  previously  gather  in  fifty  years.  The 
nation  was  then  flooded  with  hoes,  and  iron  was  melted 
into  large  blocks  and  stored  up  in  high  piles,  and 
enough  hoes  were  made  to  supply  the  farmers  with  ten 


142  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

thousand  per  month,  while  all  a  farmer  needed  or  could 
really  wear  out  was  only  one  hoe  per  year. 

"  The  iron  miners  kept  selling  hoes  until  they  found 
the  people  did  not  care  to  take  any  more,  so  they 
inveigled  the  government  into  buying  all  they  could 
mine  and  manufacture.  Before  long  the  government's 
money  and  storage  warehouse  capacity  gave  out,  and 
heavy  taxes  were  levied  to  raise  money  to  satisfy  the 
iron  miners.  It  was  not  long  before  the  government 
found  itself  in  trouble ;  the  people  were  willing  to  pay 
the  taxes  as  well  as  they  could,  but  there  was  no  other 
money  known  except  '  hoe'  money  for  the  tax  col- 
lectors to  receive,  and  they  took  the  hoes  that  were 
deposited  in  the  banking  houses  and  offered  them  to 
the  iron  miners  in  exchange  for  their  product;  but  the 
miners  wanted  something  else  than  the  hoes  made  last 
year  in  exchange  for  their  output  of  new  hoes  made 
this  year,  and  the  whole  business  world  came  to  a 
standstill.  Two  hundred  billion  dollars'  worth  of 
chattels  had  accumulated  during  the  four  thousand 
years  since  the  landing  of  the  ballooners  from  Mars. 
It  consisted  of  the  houses  in  the  cities  and  towns — not 
the  land — and  articles  of  furniture  and  luxury  and  of 
farm  improvements  and  other  things  owned  and 
needed  by  man,  and  a  grand  civilization  was  about 
springing  into  existence.  No  doubt  they  could  have 
adjusted  the  hoe-currency  affair  by  abolishing  it  en- 
tirely, and  letting  every  person  on  a  certain  day  lose 
the  value  of  all  the  hoes  they  happened  to  have  on 
hand,  pocketing  their  losses  and  then  burying  their 
hoes  from  sight  and  wetting  their  graves  with  their 
tears.  No  doubt  some  arrangement  could  have  been 
made  of  that  kind.  But  a  disaster  came  to  the  earth, 
which  saved  all  the  sorrow  that  would  have  fallen  to 
all  those  citizens  on  whom  the  hoes  had  been  '  saddled' 
by  a  few  smart  financiers,  who,  foreseeing  the  im- 
pending trouble,  had  got  rid  of  their  hoe  holdings  in 


THE    IRON    STANDARD.  143 

exchange  for  houses  and  land  and  other  good  mer- 
chandise. 

"  No  doubt  this  smart  scheme  of  shifting  the 
losses  on  to  the  unsuspecting  by  the  sharp  financiers 
would  have  resulted  in  some  men  being  sad  and  others 
happy ;  but  fortunately  or  unfortunately,  just  at  that 
time  the  earth,  in  its  far-sweeping  orbit,  swung  into 
a  snowflake  nebula  that  was  floating  around  in  the 
universe,  and  in  one  night  that  whole  part  of  the  earth 
where  these  descendants  of  those  few  adventurers 
from  Mars  lived  was  buried  under  five  miles  of  snow, 
which  afterward, turned  into  solid  ice,  the  ponderous 
weight  of  which,  in  sliding  onward  to  the  ocean,  de- 
stroyed the  people  and  all  traces  of  their  accumulated 
wealth  of  houses  and  other  chattels.  The  tonnage  of 
ice  crushed  every  piece  of  man's  handiwork,  and  as  it 
moved  forward  it  rolled  and  tumbled  and  crunched  and 
ground  every  thing  to  powder.  Thus,  a  whole  civilization, 
people  and  all,  was  blotted  from  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
and  not  a  monument  or  a  brick  or  an  article  or  a  trace 
of  anything  of  value  can  now  be  found,  except  that 
the  Sahara  Desert  is  covered  with  the  powdered  and 
sanded  remains  of  that  past  civilization ;  and  the  gods 
sat  on  the  clouds  and  winked  an  eye  at  each  other  and 
laughed  at  the  vanity  of  man;  and  as  they  saw  the 
$200,000,000,000  of  human  handiwork  disappear  they 
satirically  said  in  a  strange  language  of  their  own : 
'  Thus  passeth  away  the  glory  of  the  world.'  " 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

BRICK    STANDARD. 

"  BUT,"  continued  Josephus  (in  Micky's  way  of  tell- 
ing the  story), "the  earth  still  remained, and  went  roll- 
ing on  and  on,  and  on  and  on, 'and  in  other  lands  than 
the  present  site  of  the  Sahara  Desert  the  animals  and 
insects  and  trees  and  vegetation  kept  growing,  but 
there  was  not  a  human  being  left  to  claim  or  quarrel 
about  an  inch  of  the  vast  domain,  for  wickedness  and 
man  left  the  earth  at  one  and  the  same  time,  and  the 
earth  was  free  from  sin ;  but  four  thousand  years  later, 
about  forty  thousand  years  ago,  a  new  sort  of  a  flying 
machine  came  eight  hundred  and  ten  million  miles, 
with  a  colony  of  eighteen  souls  from  the  planet  Saturn, 
and  landed  on  our  globe  and  took  possession  of  the 
entire  earth  in  the  name  of  their  country. 

"  Now  these  strangers  from  Saturn  were  entirely 
different  from  those  who  came  from  Mars.  The  latter 
were  primitive  and  ignorant,  and  worked  their  way 
upward alongthe  slow  lines  of  progress  to  civilization; 
but  these  Saturn  voyagers  were  somewhat  advanced 
in  the  arts  and  brought  with  them  knowledge.  They 
had  an  alphabet  of  hieroglyphics,  and  were  the  off- 
spring of  the  planet  Saturn  people  whose  bent  of  mind 


BRICK    STANDARD.  145 

turned  in  the  direction  of  astronomy.  Their  planet 
was  seven  hundred  and  fifty  million  miles  farther  from 
the  sun  than  Mars  was,  and,  being  more  distant  from 
its  influence,  they  had  grown  up,  under  a  sense  of  its 
mystery,  to  be  sun-worshippers. 

"  They  were  a  nation  of  builders,  spending  their 
greatest  energy  in  erecting  temples,  of  which  untold 
gigantic  examples  dotted  their  own  entire  planet,  and 
they  brought  to  earth  with  them  their  custom  or 
medium  of  exchange,  which  was  bricks.  Their  money 
was  bricks,  and  a  certain  size  brick  was  the  unit  or 
of  standard  size  in  a  day;  therefore, one  hundred  bricks 
of  standard  size  in  a  day;  therefore,  one  hundred  bricks, 
or  a  day's  labor,  was  the  dollar  bill  or  measure  of  ex- 
change, and  each  brick  equaled  one-hundredth  part 
of  a  dollar,  the  same  as  one  of  our  cents.  If  one  man 
was  stronger  or  quicker  than  another,  it  w-as  his  in- 
born advantage,  and  he  could  make  more  per  day  than 
his  neighbor. 

''\Yhen  these  new  colonizers  reached  our  earth,  they 
landed  on  that  portion  of  it  now  known  as  Egypt,  and 
after  looking  around  and  satisfying  themselves  that 
the  soil  was  capable  of  supporting  life,  and  finding 
fruit  and  game  in  abundance,  they  concluded  to  stay 
and  to  venture  no  farther  with  their  air-ship  toward 
the  centre  of  the  solar  system.  Having  been  taught 
that  labor  was  honorable,  they  set  to  work  to  make 
bricks  thirty-five  minutes  after  they  landed,  which  was 
at  twenty-five  minutes  after  five  o'clock  A.M.;  and  by 
night-time  of  the  first  day  each  person  had  made  for 
himself  or  herself  a  hundred  bricks.  Then  after  ar- 
ranging their  handiwork  in  individual  piles,  they  sat 
down  on  top  of  them  and  commenced  to  talk. 

"  They  all  agreed  that  they  were  not  making  bricks 
for  the  fun  of  it,  nor  because  they  especially  liked  it, 
and  they  all  also  agreed  that  they  were  not  exactly 
making  them  for  eating  purposes.  They  knew  per- 


146  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

fectly  well  that  something  to  eat  and  to  wear  and  a 
house  to  live  in  were  necessary,  and  that  some  of  their 
number  on  the  next  day  had  better  spend  their  time 
in  gathering  food,  others  in  making  clothes,  and  others 
in  building  houses;  and,  according  to  agreement,  they 
commenced  their  separate  vocations  the  following 
morning.  Some  added  the  bricks  they  had  made  dur- 
ing the  second  day  to  the  previous  pile  that  they  had 
made  on  the  first  clay,  while  others  from  their  individ- 
ual piles  of  bricks  made  on  the  first  day  took  enough 
when  the  second  evening  came  to  pay  others  for  their 
second  day's  necessities;  and  each  of  them  added  to 
their  brick  piles  the  additional  bricks  received  from 
their  own  individual  sales  of  food  and  clothes  they  had 
accumulated  or  made  during  the  second  day.  But  as 
the  weeks  flew  by,  somehow,  the  quick  and  more  in- 
dustrious and  the  economical  among  them  found  their 
individual  piles  of  bricks  growing  larger,  while  others, 
who  lagged  or  idled,  found  their  piles  diminished,  with 
sometimes  all  their  bricks  gone  and  nothing  left  but 
their  empty  plot  of  land;  but  they  had  good  sense 
enough  to  see  why  this  was  so,  and  why  others  grew 
richer  and  had  more  bricks  than  they,  and  thus  they 
did  not  upbraid  the  others  for  their  own  personal  idle- 
ness and  extravagance.  The  only  man  who  made 
himself  obnoxious  during  the  first  ten  years  of  the 
colony  was  one  who,  in  a  moment  of  pride,  paid  all  of 
his  pile  of  bricks  for  a  beautiful  diamond  that  one  of 
the  party  happened  to  find.  After  the  purchaser's  wife 
had  adorned  herself  with  it  two  or  three  times,  and  the 
novelty  wore  off,  he  wanted  to  sell  it  back;  but  when 
the  lucky  finder  would  not  repurchase  it,  and  no  one 
else  was  extravagant  enough  to  buy  it  at  any  price,  a 
fuss  ensued,  of  his  making,  that  endangered  the  har- 
mony of  the  entire  settlement. 

"  Three  hundred  years  passed  by,  and  bricks  were 
still  the  single  standard  of  exchange.  The  accumulation 


BRICK    STANDARD.  147 

of  bricks  of  the  three  centuries  was  represented  in 
beautiful  residences.  The  population  had  increased  to 
nearly  half  a  million  souls,  and  the  more  powerful  and 
wealthy  directed  and  governed  affairs,  until  at  last 
strength  ruled  entirely  and  kings  owned  everything  in 
sight. 

"  A  thousand  years  passed,  various  kings  ruling  in 
the  different  cities.  They  fought,  bled  and  died,  but 
the  one  great  satisfaction  they  experienced  at  their  last 
moment  was  in  the  fact  that  their  wealth  could  not  be 
carried  away  to  distant  empires,  for  they  had  increased 
the  size  of  their  bricks  to  such  enormous  proportions 
that  no  one  wanted  to  remove  them.  When  a  rich 
man  had  a  thousand  bricks  of  the  regulation  size  he 
would  exchange  them  for  a  large  piece  of  scarce  build- 
ingstoneof  the  same  aggregate  cubic  dimensions,  and 
if  he  had  a  mill  ion  bricks,  the  stone  would  be  still  larger 
in  proportion.  As  an  indication  of  wealth,  rich  men 
placed  these  large  stones  in  their  front  yards  as  a 
boastful  sign  of  their  prosperity.  Kings  outshone 
their  richest  subjects  and  erected  monolithic  or  obe- 
lisk evidences  of  wealth,  covering  them  all  over  with 
hieroglyphics,  telling  flattering  things  about  them- 
selves; and  not  satisfied  even  with  such  things,  they 
erected  great  abiding  pyramids,  and  as  the  people 
passed  by,  or  as  distinguished  travellers  came  from 
other  lands  and  viewed  the  mighty  treasure  piles,  the 
keepers  or  officers  pointed  to  them  with  great  pride 
and  told  of  the  multi-billion  evidences  of  the  prosper- 
ity of  their  kings. 

"  All  around  the  bases  of  these  brick  or  rocky  treas- 
ure heights  were  groves  and  temples  with  sphinxes  at 
a  thousand  points,  and  down  underneath  the  pyra- 
midic  piles  were  gold-lined  chambers,  the  resting 
places  of  the  kingly  dead,  and  their  burial-service  songs 
told  that  he  who  rested  beneath  that  pyramidal  form 
was  covered  or  roofed  over  with  the  wealth  of  a  mil- 


148  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

lion,  million,  million  days  of  labor,  all  of  which  he 
hoarded  in  the  hours  he  ruled  on  earth. 

"  The  currency  of  the  Egyptian  kingdom  was  seem- 
ingly everlasting,  but  certainly  inconvenient  for  more 
modern  methods.  The  wealthy  had  numerous  slaves 
to  follow  them  and  carry  along  the  bricks  necessary 
for  daily  purchases,  and  this  currency  thus  had  the 
advantage  of  being  safe  from  extensive  robbery. 
Trusted  men  never  absconded  with  a  brickyard  in 
their  valises,  and  although  gold  and  silver  abounded, 
it  was  never  dreamed  of  for  monetary  purposes.  It 
was  too  plentiful  one  year  and  too  scarce  another,  and 
did  not  represent  to  them  a  day's  toil,  as  its  value  was 
too  often  changed  by  each  great  and  newly  discov- 
ered mine,  and  every  king  could  alloy  it  at  his  own 
pleasure,  and  thus  cheat  his  overburdened  subject 
slaves;  but  bricks  for  money  were  all  right,  as  one 
hundred  bricks  were  all  an  average  person  could  make 
in  one  day.  It  was  established  and  satisfactory. 

"  But  wealth  is  never  safe  when  gauged  by  any 
form  of  earthly  toil,  and  after  their  fifty  centuries  of 
existence,  one  hundred  bricks  still  was  the  standard 
of  a  man's  daily  work,  that  daily  work  being  repre- 
sented by  the  stately  monuments  on  every  hand  that 
rich  men  owned. 

"  But  a  sad  day  came  for  all  their  hoarded  gain,  for 
from  the  brain  of  a  man  evolved  a  thought  which 
gave  impulse  to  inventive  skill,  and  brick  machines  of 
wondrous  size  were  built  that  gave  a  man  the  power  to 
make  a  million  bricks  a  day.  A  score  of  men  built  up 
a  pyramid  with  liquid  cement  that  hardened  into 
blocks,  and  finished  in  a  week's  time  what  heretofore 
had  cost  the  labor  of  two  million  men  for  fifty  years. 
Thus  the  finance  system  of  five  thousand  years  col- 
lapsed in  ninety  days,  and  rich  men  walked  the  streets 
and  found  themselves  compelled  to  enter  into  com- 
petition with  their  former  slaves. 


BRICK    STANDARD.  149 

"  That  Egyptian  era  was  the  richest  known  to 
earth,  but  it  passed  away,  for  in  that  far  back  hour, 
when  brick  machines  unsettled  the  foundation  of 
wealth,  the  earth  suddenly  swung  forward  through  a 
great  nebula  of  mist  that  turned  to  tropic  rain,  and 
bursting  clouds  came  pouring  down  the  mountain 
sides,  sweeping  the  towns  and  cities  out  of  existence, 
and  the  entire  race  of  man,  with  all  his  wealth,  was 
buried  beneath  the  roll  of  a  million-fold  Niagara's 
gathered  force;  and  when  at  last  the  earth  in  its  orbit 
emerged  from  this  vapory,  nebulous  cloud,  the  waters 
swiftly  eddied  to  deep  caverns  in  the  earth,  sucking 
down  with  it  the  soil  and  surface  coverings  in  its 
dreadful  onward  rush,  and  thus  a  world's  wealth  of 
architecture  and  ornament  disappeared  with  the 
mighty  flood.  All  that  remained  on  the  surface  of  the 
storm-swept  globe  were  a  few  gigantic  pyramids  and 
a  massive  sphinx  to  tell  the  tale  of  the  slavish  toil  of 
millions  of  souls  whose  labor  represented  a  world  of 
wealth  that  vanished  in  an  hour.  Man  and  sin  were 
once  more  gone,  and  naught  but  silence  reigned." 


CHAPTER    XX. 

CHECK    STANDARD. 

JOSEPHUS,  continuing,  said  (according  to  Micky)  : 
"  Nothing  of  financial  importance  occurred  to  our 
world  after  the  aforementioned  incidents  until  the 
year  20,000  B.C.,  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  moon 
emigrated  in  a  body  to  our  earth,  coming  in  private 
conveyances  of  their  own  invention.  The  facts  re- 
garding the  moon  and  the  causes  of  the  emigration 
are  as  follows : 

"  When  the  various  planets  were  originally  formed 
they  were  hot  to  the  degree  of  ten  million  furnace 
power,  although  in  the  course  of  ages  they  cooled  off. 
Of  course,  the  smaller  the  diameter  of  the  sphere,  the 
sooner  it  parted  with  its  heat ;  consequently,  the  moon's 
inhabitable  life  was  of  comparatively  short  duration 
on  account  of  its  smaller  bulk,  and  when  at  last  it 
parted  with  its  remaining  store  of  heat  it  gradually 
grew  colder  and  colder,  until  the  people  could  endure 
it  no  longer.  They  then  (with  the  exception  of  one 
man  left  to  guard  the  place)  came  to  our  globe  and 
settled  on  an  island  continent  called  Atlantis. 

"  They  had  the  industrial  experience  of  their  ances- 
tors in  their  moon  life,  and  had  found  out  that  all  of 


CHECK    STANDARD.  15! 

man's  treasure  and  workmanship  was  liable  to  tumble 
or  decay,  for  they  had  seen  two  eras  of  the  moon's 
prosperity  entirely  destroyed  by  cyclones  and  other 
disturbances.  So  in  their  third  and  last  era  in  the 
moon  they  had  abolished  the  erection  of  buildings,  that 
they  readily  saw  could  only  be  built  to  come  down 
again.  To  profit  by  past  experience,  they  dug  for  their 
habitations  vast  holes  in  the  ground,  that  could  not 
fall  down  in  any  manner,  and  at  the  same  time  they 
could  thus  dwell  nearer  to  the  central  source  of  what 
little  heat  still  remained  in  the  interior  of  their  sphere. 

"  The  island  of  Atlantis  was  almost  the  size  of  our 
South  America,  and  the  Moonites  upon  arrival  plotted 
off  the  whole  land  area  into  square  yards  and  divided 
it  up  equally,  so  that  every  man,  woman,  and  child 
started  even.  They  did  this  because  of  former  experi- 
ences. All  their  previous  buildings  and  treasures  had 
been  torn  away,  and  had  left  them  an  impoverished 
people;  and  they  had  to  desert  their  former  homes  in 
the  moon,  that  had  cost  countless  treasure,  and  now 
they  concluded  to  try  and  own  just  the  barren,  naked 
land  of  Atlantis,  and  to  depend  on  that  and  nothing 
more. 

"  For  each  square  yard  of  land  was  issued  a  certifi- 
cate, each  certificate  being  divided  into  nine  shares  of 
one  square  foot  each.  Each  square  foot  had  attached 
to  it  one  hundred  and  forty-four  coupons,  representing 
square  inches,  and  every  full  certificate  was  recorded 
in  the  record  orifice  of  the  great  city  of  Alladina,  the 
capital  of  the  nation.  These  certificates  became  cur- 
rency, and  great  prosperity  ensued ;  but  it  was  the  old 
story  over  again  of  some  people  saying  '  the  rich  grew 
richer  and  the  poor  poorer,'  until  the  Emperor  was 
empowered  to  behead  any  one  on  the  spot  who  whis- 
pered such  an  untrue  sentiment.  The  poor  people, 
when  they  found  they  had  to  do  so,  opened  their  eyes 
and  found  out  the  true  state  of  affairs;  and  a  new 


152  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

motto  came  into  existence,  which  was,  that  the  saving 
man  was  the  one  who  grew  richer,  and  the  spendthrift 
the  one  who  grew  poorer.  At  last,  when  every  one 
appreciated  the  truth  of  the  new  saying,  there  came  an 
era  of  economy,  and  land  certificates  became  the  cur- 
rency of  the  nation,  being  sold  and  hoarded  up  until 
every  one  was  on  the  road  to  wealth ;  when,  to  the 
sorrow  of  the  great  majority,  it  was  discovered  that 
fraudulent  certificates  had  been  issued  by  unscrupulous 
parties.  A  panic  immediately  ensued,  the  bad  certifi- 
cates could  not  be  told  from  the  genuine,  and  anarchy 
prevailed  in  the  general  scramble  of  each  individual 
to  save  himself. 

"  Two  thousand  years  had  passed  since  the  Moonites 
landed  on  the  earth,  and  a  change  had  come  in  refer- 
ence to  ideas  regarding  the  erection  of  houses,  for  the 
great  island  continent  of  Atlantis  had  become  beautiful 
with  its  dwellings  and  temples  so  lavishly  erected ;  but 
when  the  panic  came  no  one  knew  who  was  the  proper 
owner  of  the  soil. 

"  In  the  midst  of  the  tumult  the  Emperor  called  a 
halt,  deciding  that  all  certificates,  good  or  bad,  were 
null  and  void,  and  seized  the  entire  ground  for  the 
benefit  of  the  government.  He,  however,  gave  a  privi- 
lege to  every  one  to  use  for  himself  that  portion  of  the 
earth  on  which  his  house,  store,  or  factory  stood ;  and 
to  every  farmer  he  leased  as  much  land  as  one  man 
could  till,  and  when  all  was  adjusted  he  found  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  provided  for,  and  all  started 
anew.  The  Emperor  agreed  nevermore  to  disturb  or 
tax  a  dollar's  worth  of  anything  that  was  on  the  land, 
providing  his  subjects  would  pay,  per  agreement,  a 
rate  of  tax  per  square  yard  on  all  the  land  they  needed 
or  used.  In  this  manner  the  land  belonged  to  the 
Emperor  or  State,  while  the  subjects  owned  everything 
else  on  the  land,  on  which  no  tax  could  be  levied ;  and 
thus  capital,  or  accumulated  wealth,  was  forever  free. 


CHECK    STANDARD.  153 

"  Land  certificates  for  the  entire  surface  were  then 
the  property  of  the  King,  and  used  by  him  for  financial 
security  to  the  nation;  and  a  new  system  of  currency 
was  adopted,  which  was  checks  on  banks.  Everything 
down  to  a  penny  was  paid  for  in  checks,  and  no  one, 
under  penalty  of  death,  was  allowed  to  buy  anything 
unless  he  had  funds  in  the  bank  to  pay  for  it,  and  gave 
his  check  at  the  time  of  the  purchase.  All  bank  officials 
who  defaulted  were  executed  on  five  minutes'  notice. 

"  This  monetary  system  prevailed,  a  model  of  suc- 
cess, for  two  thousand  years,  making  a  total  of  four 
thousand  years  since  the  landing  from  the  moon. 
They  had  no  other  nation  to  deal  with,  and  the  integ- 
rity of  a  check  was  the  safeguard  for  them  all ;  and 
when  a  check  was  found  to  be  spurious  the  general 
government  made  it  good  one  day  after  the  execution 
of  the  delinquent. 

"  The  most  gorgeous  houses  and  luxurious  furnish- 
ings abounded,  property  valued  at  $12,000,000,000 
had  been  accumulated,  and  every  one  was  rich  and 
happy.  Living  on  earth  was  voted  a  success,  but 
earthly  possessions  were  considered  not  abiding  or 
lasting. 

"  But  again,  in  a  moment's  time,  all  was  changed ; 
a  great  monster  sun  spot  suddenly  affected  the  terres- 
trial magnetic  currents ;  an  awful  earthquake  occurred, 
houses  and  temples  and  palaces  tottered  and  fell,  and 
upturned,  terror-stricken  faces  saw  the  dark,  gathering 
clouds  suddenly  descending  and  enveloping  them  in 
a  blinding  mist ;  and  then  came  a  rumbling,  reverberat- 
ing, roaring,  appalling  sound,  deafening  every  one. 
Then  a  sudden  sinking  of  the  earth,  a  rushing  in  of 
mighty  waters,  and  a  whole  island  continent,  with  its 
freight  of  struggling  human  beings  and  garnered 
treasures,  dropped  like  a  huge  mountain  and  sank  far 
down  beneath  the  inrushing  ocean  waves.  Almost  in 
an  instant  the  great  island  of  Atlantis  and  four  thou- 


154  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

sand  years  of  humanity,  with  its  struggles  and  hopes, 
disappeared  forever  from  earthly  view.  Man  and  sin 
had  once  more  vanished;  but  the  stars  looked  down, 
and  alone  saw  the  surging  waves  gradually  receding, 
until  a  peaceful  calm  sent  back  to  their  silent  eyes 
nothing  but  their  own  abiding  reflection,  and  Atlantis 
was  no  more." 


CHAPTER  XXL 

THE    ART    STANDARD. 

"  VENUS,"  continued  Josephus,  "  like  the  rest  of 
the  planets  controlled  by  our  sun,  as  well  as  the  plan- 
ets of  every  other  system,  commenced  its  usefulness 
under  circumstances  common  to  them  all;  that  is,  it 
took  ages  for  its  surface  to  cool  sufficiently  to  admit 
of  both  animal  and  vegetable  life,  and  when  that  era 
did  at  last  arrive,  then  seaweeds,  grass,  flowers,  trees, 
fruit,  insects,  and  animals  in  their  order  began  their 
upward  progression  from  indefiniteness  to  perfection. 
In  fact,  no  world  has  power  within  itself  to  resist  its 
own  order  of  evolution.  Each  earth  has  the  life-prin- 
ciple in  its  general  make-up,  which  is  bound  to  assert 
itself  sooner  or  later,  and  at  last  reach  its  highest  ideal 
in  man.  And  then  from  manhood  evolves  a  some- 
thing, that  after  death  can  emanate  from  the  planet 
itself,  to  live  eternal  amid  the  general  cosmos. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  Venus  from  their  own  humble 
life  germ  developed  into  superior  mortals,  as  their 
turn  of  mind  was  toward  the  scientific  and  aesthetic; 
and  when,  in  one  of  its  inventive  centuries,  a  daring 
company  of  experimentalists  were  rash  enough  to 
allow  themselves  to  be  shot  in  a  steel  cvlinder  from  a 


156  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

pneumatic  cannon  into  the  spaces  beyond  the  control 
of  their  own  world's  gravity,  they  sped  for  a  woeful 
period,  until  by  chance  they  reached  the  attracting 
influence  of  our  earth,  and  then  commenced  their 
downward  flight  until  they  plunged  and  sank  into  the 
ocean  that  surrounds  the  beautiful  Eutomia  island, 
now  called  Ceylon.  At  the  depth  of  one  mile,  the 
mighty  force  or  dive  of  their  descending  air-tight 
cylinder  was  arrested  by  the  water's  resistance.  It 
arose  to  the  surface  and  drifted  landward,  where  the 
occupants  made  their  exit,  and  found  themselves  on 
solid  earth,  breathing  the  pure  atmosphere  of  an 
uninhabited  world. 

"  The  company  consisted  of  eight  married  couples, 
and  their  first  act  was  to  take  possession  of  the  earth 
in  the  name  of  the  planet  Venus,  by  planting  on  the 
mainland  their  flag,  which  consisted  of  a  large  field  of 
deep  blue  silk,  on  which  was  exquisitely  designed  in 
white  the  figure  of  a  beautiful  woman,  covered  loosely 
with  only  the  most  delicate  of  gauzy  apparel. 

"  For  their  new  earth  name,  these  Venusians  called 
their  island  Eutomia,  and  styled  themselves  Euto- 
mians.  It  was  a  word  from  the  language  of  the  planet 
Venus,  signifying  what  would  be  defined  in  English 
as  'grafting'  or  'cross  breeding';  for  the  principle 
underlying  the  whole  structure  of  their  Venus  civil- 
ization was  an  endless  effort  to  assist  nature  to  the 
loftier  ideals  in  the  aesthetic. 

"  For  instance,  they  cultivated  flowers  for  the  sake 
of  creating  a  rivalry  to  unfold  the  highest  perfection 
as  to  beauty  and  fragrance;  and  grafting  was  the 
manner  of  its  accomplishment.  But  fragrance  and 
beauty  were  only  portions  of  their  cherished  pur- 
poses. Artificial  zephyrs  were  created  by  a  system  of 
delicate  machinery,  to  convey  the  pollen  from  one 
flower  to  another  that  was  placed  in  special  and  ex- 
perimentally discovered  proximity;  and  heat  to  cer- 


THE    ART    STANDARD.  157 

tain  temperatures  was  adjusted  to  produce  scientific 
results.  New  varieties  of  insects  were  propagated 
with  a  view  to  their  influence  in  their  gentle  flittings 
from  one  flower  to  another,  to  help  the  original 
pre-blooming  organizations;  and  the  more  beautiful 
the  advancement  in  the  floral  art,  the  better  were  the 
results  gained  by  placing  them  near  the  bearers  of  un- 
born children. 

"  This  last  thought  was  the  real  basis  of  their  high 
ideas  regarding  the  reproduction  of  the  human  spe- 
cies; for  that  which  surrounded  human  beings  at  cer- 
tain periods  of  existence  was  deemed  to  influence 
future  lives,  and  thus  '  environment'  became  the 
chief  concern  of  humanity;  and  in  this  thought  art,  in 
directing  nature,  became  the  central  incentive  to  oc- 
cupation, as  human  beings  craved  the  possession  of 
that  which  would  help  to  mould  posterity  to  loftier 
perfection. 

"  Grace  and  beauty  were  deemed  of  far  more  conse- 
quence than  speed  or  utility;  and  animals,  flowers, 
vegetation,  and  manufactures  were  arranged  for  with 
careful  forethought,  as  object  lessons  for  the  vision 
only.  If  outward  imperfections  existed  in  life  or  in 
objects  of  any  form,  they  were  destroyed  or  removed 
from  the  sight  of  man. 

"  The  entire  Venus  world  bathed  in  a  continual 
presence  of  grace  and  beauty.  Curves  predominated 
in  all  classes  of  architecture,  as  well  as  in  everything 
adapted  for  man's  uses.  An  artist's  canvas  was  never 
debased  with  a  single  reproduction  from  flora,  forest, 
or  lower  animal  nature;  to  paint  a  rose  or  a  woodland 
was  a  misdemeanor,  as  it  was  deemed  an  encroach- 
ment on  the  domain  of  nature  itself,  and  no  one  would 
dare  to  approach  nature  for  the  purpose  of  imitation; 
it  was  considered  beneath  the  dignity  of  lotty  genius. 
Art  was  legalized  only  for  an  advancement  in  perfec- 
tion in  the  realms  of  the  ideal;  one  exception  only  was 


158  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

made,  and  that  was  the  imitation  of  the  human  form 
was  encouraged.  Perfection  in  the  naked  was  de- 
manded, but  the  nude  was  shunned,  and  every  safe- 
guard was  thrown  around  the  sculptor's  and  artist's 
efforts  to  raise  the  mind  of  mankind  to  exaltation  in 
the  chaste  and  pure.  Human  form  in  perfection,  in 
marble  and  on  canvas,  was  met  with  at  every  turn; 
pose  and  muscular  strength  in  man  was  depicted  to 
make  mind  impressions  of  power,  sanitation,  and 
longevity;  woman's  form  was  constantly  before  the 
public  to  give  the  highest  ideals  of  grace  and  beauty; 
and  all  of  this  was  primarily  intended  to  assist  in 
bringing  into  existence  perfection  in  physical  man- 
kind; and  the  longing  wish,  above  every  other,  was 
for  noblest  parenthood. 

"Thus was  the  planet  Venus  clothed  with  a  mantling 
of  man's  handiwork  that  ever  appealed  to  the 
aesthetic.  The  cities  were  masterpieces  of  imagina- 
tion, and  the  villas  and  country  scenes  were  wide- 
sweeping  day-dreams  of  classic  beauty.  Lawns  were 
floral  pictures  of  scenes  of  love,  and  vast  grain  fields 
were  arranged  to  be  tinted  tableaus  of  prowess  and 
valor.  Statues  of  Jupiter,  Hercules,  Venus,  Hermes, 
and  a  thousand  others  abounded  in  every  place  of 
vantage,  and  homes  and  palaces  were  beautiful  visions 
of  delicate  lacework  in  marble.  But  the  temples  of 
music  were  divine,  and  oratorios  were  the  acme  of  the 
world's  education.  Everything  of  pastime  was  subor- 
dinated to  music,  and  from  childhood  onward  the 
conservatory  was  their  chief  delight,  and  temples  to 
the  Muses  were  erected  on  even  a  greater  scale  of 
grandeur  than  is,  or  has  been,  characteristic  of  the 
glorious  cathedral  buildings  on  our  earth. 

"  Gold,  silver,  and  metals  were  unknown,  but  for- 
estry was  the  chief  department  in  the  Royal  Service, 
and  foliage  of  a  hundred  tints  was  arranged  each  with 
its  respective  trees,  to  form  a  pictured  national 


THE    ART    STANDARD.  1$9 

thought  when  viewed  in  vast  area  from  some  great 
mountain  height.  Such  were  the  scenes  in  Venus, 
the  beautiful  morning  or  evening  star  to  earth,  when 
came  their  emigrants  to  our  Ceylon's  shores. 

"  The  sixteen  souls  commenced  in  an  humble  way 
to  colonize  our  earth  and  stamp  the  impress  of  their 
home  civilization  on  the  coming  man  of  earth,  and 
when  three  thousand  years  had  passed,  a  second 
Venus  scene  had  spread  o'er  Ceylon's  balmy  isle,  and 
lovely  homes  and  charming  groves  and  dazzling  cities 
were  owned  and  peopled  by  a  race  of  men  and  women 
whose  perfection  of  physique  was  envied  by  the  gods. 

"  These  beings  from  another  star  felt  humbled  at 
the  thought  that  money  must  be  used  to  measure 
things  in  art.  Experience  had  taught  them  the  neces- 
sity of  having  a  standard  of  value.  It  was  hard,  very 
hard  to  feel  that  '  price'  was  one  of  the  requirements 
of  daily  life.  They  loved  their  art  work,  and  in  their 
love  would  gladly  give  away  whatever  another 
wished;  and  it  was  so  for  ages  that  each  one  toiled  at 
whatever  his  talent  directed.  Every  one's  needs  were 
met,  and  no  one  took  of  anything  which  he  could  not 
in  equal  measure  return.  No  one  went  hungry,  naked, 
or  in  lack  of  anything  that  could  be  lovingly  supplied, 
for  it  was  all  exchange  of  love. 

"  But  selfishness  at  last  developed,  and  when  it 
came,  a  change  was  necessary  in  the  manner  of  sup- 
plying wants.  Price  was  fixed;  each  man's  work  or 
service  had  its  grade,  and  money  developed  into  use. 
Statues  of  the  human  form  became  the  money  or 
medium  of  exchange,  and  little  art-work  forms  of  men 
and  women  represented  smaller  change.  Larger  carv- 
ings, covering  special  days  of  work  employed  in  their 
making,  had  their  corresponding  value,  and  marble 
statues  had  their  higher  buying  capacity  in  propor- 
tion to  time  and  skill  in  workmanship.  When  a 
•'  Venus  de  Medici'  or  a  '  Milo'  was  created  by  some 


l6o  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

master  hand,  it  was  placed  in  the  royal  gallery,  with 
its  value  affixed,  and  rich  men  had  shares  in  its  pos- 
session, these  shares  being  represented  by  ivory  tags 
that  passed  as  currency;  and  rivalry  existed  among 
wealthy  men  to  gather  in  the  entire  issue  of  one  series 
of  tags,  so  as  to  own  an  entire  statue  to  carry  to  their 
homes.  As  the  years  rolled  by,  tags  became  numer- 
ous, wealth  abounded,  and  banking  houses  were  es- 
tablished, in  whose  deposit  vaults  were  marble  and 
ivory  gods  and  statues  of  every  name,  all  of  which 
passed  from  bank  to  bank  and  hand  to  hand  in  the 
usual  course  of  banking  or  channels  of  trade. 

"  A  man's  precious  wealth,  if  not  in  the  bank,  was 
in  his  parlor  or  on  his  lawns,  and  no  one  would  steal  a 
statue,  large  or  small,  for  fear  of  the  anger  of  the  gods. 
No  one  could  counterfeit  art.  Attempts  were  made 
by  moulding  powjdered  marble  in  imitation  of  cele- 
brated forms,  but  the  world  was  educated  in  the  small- 
est details  of  its  choicest  work,  and  no  one  dared  or 
wished  to  offer  spurious  work  for  sale. 

"  No  trouble  was  experienced  in  this  '  currency  of 
art/  and  the  wealth  of  the  government  was  seen  on 
every  hand  in  the  lavishness  with  which  beautiful 
statuary  lined  the  thoroughfares  and  decorated  the 
public  buildings;  and  the  people  loved  the  money 
that  was  in  their  pockets,  parlors,  lawns,  or  highways. 
They  could  see  the  highest  ideals  of  manhood  and 
womanhood  constantly  before  them  to  remind  them 
of  the  responsibility  devolving  on  them  in  their  desire 
to  realize  what  they  owed  to  posterity. 

"  And  so  our  beautiful  Ceylon  Island  of  Eutomia 
became  the  garden  and  art  paradise  of  earth,  and 
would  have  given  its  share  of  glory  to  mankind  to- 
day had  it  continued  to  exist ;  but  in  the  four  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-seventh  year  of  the  national 
existence  of  the  Eutomians  a  great  plague  of  stone- 
boring  and  wood-powdering  insects  came  swarming 


THE    ART    STANDARD.  l6l 

down  on  the  island  from  the  unknown  cloud-lands. 
As  they  approached,  the  heavens  were  darkened  as  at 
midnight;  they  came  like  the  cloud-bursts  on  our 
Western  plains;  like  the  rushing  of  a  tornado,  with 
the  ponderous  might  of  a  volcanic  wave;  they  came 
in  hunger,  like  the  fury  of  starving,  savage  lions.  They 
covered  the  entire  land  to  the  depth  of  the  sands  of 
the  desert.  They  came  in  the  morning;  they  pow- 
dered and  ground  and  destroyed  everything  on  the 
surface  of  the  land  and  sea,  excepting  living  human- 
ity, and  when  evening  time  settled  over  the  land,  the 
insects  flew  away  as  suddenly  as  they  came;  but  the 
glory  of  the  fairest  place  that  earth  had  ever  seen  was 
gone.  Vegetation  had  disappeared;  not  even  a  tree 
or  its  trunk,  or  a  branch  or  a  twig  or  a  leaf  remained. 
Not  a  house  or  the  smallest  object  of  its  contents 
could  be  seen.  Not  an  article  of  clothing  was  left  on 
the  people.  Not  a  blade  of  grass  or  a  flower  or  a 
statue  or  a  penny's  worth  of  a  world's  wealth  was  vis- 
ible; not  a  living  object  save  naked  mankind.  Noth- 
ing around  but  powdered  wealth. 

''  In  all  directions,  north,  south,  east  and  west, 
up  the  mountains  and  down  the  dale,  over  the  field 
and  over  the  moor,  in  the  city  and  over  the  farmland, 
everywhere,  stretching  in  uneven  layers,  was  a  yellow- 
ish, sandy  vista,  mocked  by  the  golden  smiles  of  a 
glorious  evening  sunset;  and  bewildered,  terror- 
stricken,  dazed  mankind  sat  down  on  the  new-made 
desert,  and,  speechless,  looked  into  one  another's  faces 
and  bowed  their  heads  on  their  knees  and  wept.  The 
rollicking  gods  refrained  from  jesting  and  sat  in  silent 
sorrow  as  they  gazed  down  on  the  heart-crushing 
agony  of  the  most  magnificent  types  of  physical  hu- 
manity their  eyes  had  ever  beheld;  and  when  morning 
dawned,  not  a  human  soul  was  left  alive  to  tell  the 
tale,  and  heart-broken  Eutomia  was  no  more.  The 
angels  of  earth  who  had  folded  their  wings  and  sor- 


1 62  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

rowfully  bowed  their  heads  the  night  before  now  wel- 
comed the  new-born  spirits  into  their  kingdom,  and 
talked  with  them  of  the  vanity  of  mortals  who  labor 
for  ages  to  accumulate  treasures  on  earth,  that  give 
no  permanent  or  abiding  joy. 

"  And  thus,  fair  Ceylon — beautiful  Eutomia — was 
for  a  day  one  vast  '  Tower  of  Silence,'  strewn  with  the 
snowy-white  lifeless  remains  of  the  loveliest  of  earth's 
forms  of  manly  grace  and  womanly  beauty,  and  the 
breezes  drifted  the  new-made  sand  in  wavy  rifts. 
When  the  second  evening  spread  her  mantle  o'er  the 
scene,  a  hundred  million  mounds  told  of  a  hundred 
million  buried  human  temples,  whose  winding  sheets 
were  powdered  remnants  of  a  once-loved  wealth  of 
glorious  art  that  had  been  all  their  own." 

At  the  close  of  Josephus's  talks  on  the  money 
standards  of  vanished  civilizations  of  former  ages,  he 
graciously  bowed  adieu,  and  with  a  sound  as  of  a  clap 
of  thunder  Blavatsky  and  her  associate  "  shades"  sud- 
denly disappeared. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

TAXES. 

"  WHAT  do  you  mean  by  free  trade?"  said  Sally  to 
Ed  one  Friday  evening  in  the  cellar  when  Micky  and 
Fred  were  pasting  the  tissue-paper  on  and  giving  the 
finishing  touches  to  their  week's  work  of  kite  frames. 

All  eyes  turned  to  Ed,  but  he  sat  silent  for  ten 
minutes ;  the  silence  was  "  catching,"  and  the  rest  kept 
quiet  to  let  Ed  get  his  thinking  mill  wound  up,  which, 
when  accomplished,  he  commenced  as  follows: 

"  Free  trade,  as  you  hear  it  spoken  of,  and  as  you 
read  about  it  in  the  papers,  is  mixed  up  or  interwoven 
with  those  other  questions  of  tariff  and  protection  and 
taxes  and  internal  revenue.  I  will  first  talk  to  you 
about  taxes,  as  that  is  the  easiest  understood,  for  you 
all  know  that  people  in  communities  have  to  first 
support  themselves  by  getting  food  and  water  for 
themselves  and  their  families;  for  getting  food  and 
sustaining  life  is  the  primary  requisite  on  earth  of  each 
individual,  as  it  is  quite  evident  that  a  community  of 
dead  people  is  not  a  very  enterprising  one ;  and  no  food 
and  drink  means  death.  The  next  thing  of  importance 
is  to  get  clothing,  and  the  next  is  houses  to  live  in,  and 


164  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

after  that  there  are  hundreds  of  things  that  men  want 
that  follow  in  their  regular  order. 

"  Now,  clothing,  food,  houses,  books,  and  such 
things  do  not  grow  wild  in  the  woods ;  and  to  get  food, 
clothing,  houses,  and  other  desirable  things,  it  takes 
about  all  the  time  a  father  or  brother  has,  for  he  goes 
away  early  in  the  morning  and  comes  back  late  at  night 
barely  to  get  a  living.  The  mothers  and  sisters  work 
even  longer  hours  than  the  men-folks ;  and  as  all  their 
time  is  so  fully  occupied,  it  is  necessary  in  the  city 
where  we  live  and  in  other  cities  and  towns  of  the  land 
to  have  some  one  to  look  after  the  government  of  the 
place,  and  people  must  be  hired  and  paid  for  that 
purpose.  There  has  to  be  a  mayor,  or  head  man,  and 
he  must  protect  the  people  in  their  lives  and  property ; 
so  he  employs  policemen  for  their  respective  duties; 
fire-engines  are  bought  and  men  paid  to  save  property ; 
streets  are  expensively  paved  and  kept  clean,  and  parks 
and  pleasure  places  arranged  for ;  reservoirs  are  built, 
pipes  are  laid,  and  men  hired  to  supply  pure  water; 
school-houses  are  established  and  judges  elected  to 
settle  disputes,  and  all  the  other  necessary  numerous 
arrangements  are  made.  How  to  pay  for  them  all  is 
the  important  question. 

"  The  mayor  of  the  town  has  grave  duties  to  per- 
form, one  of  which  is  to  see  that  every  person  in  the 
place  who  is  able  to  do  so  pays  his  or  her  rightful  share 
of  all  those  expenses ;  so  he  employs  men  to  study  into 
the  subject  and  find  out  who  has  money  in  bank  or 
property  of  any  kind,  and  how  much. 

"  The  sum  of  money  to  be  raised  that  is  necessary 
to  pay  for  all  the  city  expenses  is  called  taxes,  and  the 
question  is,  who  shall  pay  the  taxes  ?  There  is  a  great 
controversy  on  this  subject.  Some  say  that  labor 
should  be  free,  which  should  also  really  mean  accumu- 
lated labor  or  wealth.  Now,  what  does  all  that  man 
uses,  excepting  God's  earth  or  ground,  represent?  Is 


TAXES.  165 

it  not  all,  as  I  have  said,  accumulated  labor?  Have 
I  not  explained  to  you  that  everything  man  owns,  ex- 
cepting the  land  itself  (or  the  original  earth  or  globe), 
has  been  made  or  manufactured  or  changed  from  one 
thing  into  another  or  cultivated  in  some  way  or 
attended  to  by  the  work  or  time  of  some  one,  such  as 
houses  and  their  furnishings,  fields  of  grain,  orchards 
and  .food,  clothes,  and  all  other  of  man's  possessions  ? 
So  there  are  only  three  grand  subdivisions  of  every- 
thing on  earth  that  can  be  taxed  in  order  to  raise  the 
necessary  money. 

"  The  first  subdivision  is  the  people  themselves,  for 
some  say  the  "best  way  to  raise  taxes  is  to  charge  so 
much  per  head,  or,  to  use  the  Latin  expression,  per 
capita;  but  this  is  very  unpopular  and  not  adopted. 
The  second  subdivision  is  the  bare  land,  or  real  estate, 
as  it  is  called ;  and  the  third  subdivision  is  the  chattels, 
or,  in  other  words,  all  the  handiwork  or  accumulated 
labor  of  man  that  he  has  placed  on  the  land  or  real 
estate.  Now,  as  the  per  capita  tax  is  unpopular,  the 
other  two — land,  or  real  estate,  and  chattels,  or  ac- 
cumulated labor — necessarily  are  attached  or  levied 
upon  by  the  tax  collectors  to  raise  the  money  for  the 
city  expenses. 

"  I  cannot  vote  yet,  and  have  no  say  in  the  matter; 
but  when  I  am  old  enough  to  vote  and  make  speeches 
I  am  going  to  use  my  influence  to  show  people  that 
labor  of  all  kinds  should  not  be  taxed,  whether  it  be 
to-day's  work  or  the  work  accumulations  of  last  year 
or  the  last  century ;  for  wealth  is  labor,  or  what  you 
might  call  stored-up  labor.  I  am  going  to  show  people 
that  the  easiest  and  best  and  fairest  way  to  raise  taxes 
is  to  tax  the  real  estate,  or  land,  only;  and  that  all 
houses,  stores,  and  accumulated  labor  or  chattels  or 
personal  property,  as  it  is  called,  of  every  kind  should 
be  free. 

"  Everything   comes    out   of   the   earth,    and   man 


1 66  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

should  be  charged  or  taxed  for  only  just  the  part  of 
the  flat  earth  he  wishes  to  use.  And  when  he  or  his 
father  or  his  grandfather  or  his  great-grandfather  has 
been  smart  enough  to  get  anything  out  of  the  earth, 
he  or  they  ought  to  be  complimented  for  it,  and  not 
pounced  down  upon  by  their  fellow-men  and  made  to 
pay  taxes  for  their  smartness. 

"  When  a  citizen  of  the  nation  travels  over  his 
country  and  sees  the  treasures,  homes,  and  factories 
of  the  cities,  and  the  cultivation  and  habitations  of  the 
farms,  he  should  be  proud  and  glory  in  the  business  of 
his  people ;  for  the  work  or  labor  of  all  can  really  be 
called  by  one  name — business;  and  why  should  busi- 
ness be  taxed?  Business  should  be  free,  as  all  pros- 
perity depends  upon  it,  and  all  that  business  produces 
should  be  free." 

"  But,"  said  Sally,  "  how  can  you  tax  the  land  only 
and  not  the  houses  and  call  that  fair;  for  the  rich  city 
man  only  owns  a  little  piece  of  land  a  hundred  feet 
square  with  a  palace  on  it,  while  the  farmer  owns  a 
hundred  acres  and  a  cottage?  You  certainly  would 
not  want  the  poor  farmer  to  pay  a  great  sum  in  pro- 
portion to  the  extensive  land  he  holds  with  his  humble 
cottage,  and  the  rich  merchant  pay  only  on  his  little 
small  lot,  and  all  his  fine,  expensive  place  and  furniture 
and  fixtures  on  it  go  free?" 

"  Why,  no !"  said  Ed.  "  If  it  were  arranged  to  tax 
only  the  land,  and  not  the  house  or  other  things  on  it, 
the  farmer  would  not  have  to  pay  ariy  more  tax  than  he 
does  now,  or  the  rich  city  man  any  more  than  he  does 
now ;  there  would  be  no  difference  whatever  in  the  end, 
because  city  land  is  worth  so  much  more  than  country 
land.  Why,  I  read  in  the  paper  the  other  day  of  a  piece 
of  land,  one  hundred  feet  square,  on  Fifth  Avenue,  in 
New  York  City,  on  which  there  is  no  house  whatever, 
just  simply  a  vacant  lot,  and  the  owner  has  paid  for 
this  year's  taxes  $8000.  Just  think  of  it !  Why,  the 


TAXES.  167 

taxes  he  paid  for  one  year  on  his  little  quarter-acre 
city  lot  are  more  than  any  one  of  three-fourths  of  the 
farms  of  the  whole  country  are  worth. 

"  There  are  just  so  much  taxes  to  be  raised  to  run 
the  city  government  and  just  so  much  to  run  the 
country  government;  and  if  the  sum  is  charged  all  in 
one  lump  on  the  land  itself,  the  farmers  are  no  worse 
off  in  the  end  in  their  district,  and  each  one  is  saved 
the  inquisitory  humiliation  of  some  assessor  coming 
to  his  home  and  questioning  him — a  freeman — as  to 
how  many  horses  and  watches  and  pigs  and  carriages 
he  has,  and  about  his  wife's  clothing  and  about  his 
furniture  and  how  much  money  he  has  in  bank  and 
how  many  stocks  and  bonds  he  has,  which  should  be 
no  man's  business  except  his  own.  The  great  differ- 
ence it  would  make  is  that  the  rich  farmer  and  the  rich 
city  speculator  would  not  try  to  grab  so  much  land; 
and  if  taxes  were  heavy  on  land,  and  houses  and  stock 
and  other  things  free,  they  would  only  want  to  own 
what  land  they  could  cultivate  or  use,  which  would, 
consequently,  give  other  people  a  chance  to  get  the 
good  unused  land  and  farm  it.  Just  think  of  the  thou- 
sands of  farmers  who  have  five  or  ten  times  as  much 
land  as  they  can  cultivate,  and  who  would  soon  part 
with  their  farms  if  taxes  on  land  were  high.  They 
would  take  this  money  received  from  the  selling  of  the 
unused  land  and  build  houses  on  which  there  were  no 
taxes,  or  put  it  into  some  kind  of  trade  or  business 
where  there  were  no  taxes;  and  in  this  way  their 
money  would  give  employment  to  laboring  men,  and 
not  be  in  uncultivated  land  tracts,  doing  nobody  any 
good. 

''  It  would  be  the  same  way  in  the  towns  that  grow 
to  be  cities,  where  hundreds  of  men,  in  advance,  buy 
ground  on  speculation  and  let  their  money  lie  idle,  wait- 
ing for  energetic  business  men  to  erect  houses  around 
them,  start  stores  and  build  street  railroads.  Thus, 


1 68  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

without  any  effort  on  their  part,  others  make  their 
property  valuable,  and  they  become  rich  through  other 
people's  energy,  hard  work,  and  suffering.  It  is  not 
a  bit  fair  that  great  landed  estates,  owned  by  idle  men 
and  boys  who  never  did  a  day's  work  in  their  lives, 
should  increase  so  in  value;  it  is  not  right  that 
those  boys  shouldthave  been  made  rich  and  indepen- 
dent by  their  fathers  buying  land  around  cities,  which 
land  became  valuable  not  from  any  labor  of  their  own, 
but  because  working  people  and  pushing  business  men 
built  up  all  around  them  and  made  them  rich.  If  the 
people  made  the  land  rich  or  valuable,  who  should  get 
the  benefit  of  it?  Why,  I  think  the  land  or  ground 
should  belong  to  the  State  or  the  people  themselves ; 
and  every  person  who  wants  to  use  land  should  ask 
for  as  much  as  he  or  she  actually  needs  and  can  pay 
rent  for  to  their  community,  city,  or  town.  The  price 
they  pay  per  year  would  be  the  necessary  tax  per  year ; 
and  then  if  the  ground  grows  valuable,  the  whole 
people  would  get  the  benefit,  and  not  a  few  heirs  to 
estates  which  have  become  vastly  valuable  because 
other  people  than  the  owners  made  them  valuable  by 
building  up  around  them.  If  these  land  speculators 
had  to  pay  an  equal  tax  on  all  their  land,  they  would 
not  be  able  to  hold  it ;  and  then,  instead  of  their  invest- 
ment money  lying  idle  for  years  in  land,  it  would, 
directed  to  other  channels,  be  doing  good  all  those 
years  in  business  enterprises,  in  employing  people  and 
supporting  families,  and  other  people  would  be  tilling 
the  vacant  or  unused  soil. 

"  This  thought  of  a  land  tax  was  •  advocated  by 
Henry  George.  It  was  not  altogether  new  with  him ; 
it  is  as  ancient  as  Joseph  and  Pharaoh.  Henry  George 
deserves  great  credit  for  writing  about  it  and  talking 
it  up,  and  when  other  people  know  more  about  it  they 
will  agree  with  him.  He  has  written  a  book  that  every 
one  should  read.  Most  of  the  people  who  talk  against 


TAXES.  169 

the  plan  are  those  who  do  not  know  anything  about  it 
or  have  not  looked  into  the  subject. 

"  The  question  of  land  tax  is  a  very  deep  one.  In 
the  first  place,  nature  gave  the  earth  free  to  man,  Adam 
and  Eve  at  one  time  having  it  all  to  themselves.  They 
needed  no  money  to  buy  clothing;  and  the  climate 
being  perfection  itself,  no  house  was  required.  As  for 
something  to  eat,  all  they  had'  to  do  was  to  go  out  in 
the  natural  groves  and  pick  bananas,  pineapples,  and 
peaches  until  they  were  tired,  and  they  had  good  sense 
enough  in  those  days  not  to  eat  meat;  but  when  a 
change  came  to  Adam  and  Eve's  independent  mode  of 
life,  and  work  was  instituted  on  the  earth,  then  they 
had  to  hustle  and  earn  a  living  as  man  does  to-day. 

"  As  the  centuries  rolled  by,  people  took  up  the  land 
and  farmed  it  or  raised  cattle.  Various  communities 
or  tribes  were  established,  settling  in  countries  of  their 
own  selection ;  and  as  the  centuries  rolled  by,  they  in- 
creased in  numbers  and  grew  rich,  having  kings  and 
rulers,  who  taxed  the  people  in  various  ways.  Later 
a  number  of  tribes  joined  together  and  formed  nations, 
and  after  this  some  king,  more  warlike  and  formidable 
than  others,  conquered  various  provinces  and  formed 
empires,  and  on  several  occasions  aspired  to  have  the 
whole  earth  under  one  government,  like  the  Assyrian, 
Babylonian,  Grecian,  and  Roman  Empires.  Adventu- 
rous men  went  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  then  known 
world,  discovering  new  continents  and  islands,  until 
now  every  land  is  known  and  owned  by  somebody; 
and  out  of  our  planet's  soil,  air,  and  water  everything 
that  man  uses  is  derived. 

"  All  of  us  are  on  this  earth  without  any  will  of  our 
own.  We  were  born  and  could  not  help  being  born. 
We  did  not  have  will  or  sense  enough  even  to  object 
to  our  own  birth ;  and  by  the  time  we  began  intelligently 
to  realize  that  we  were  on  the  earth  we,  in  order  to 
live  and  keep  our  soul  and  body  together,  had  to  start 


I7O  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

in  to  work  and  hustle  to  earn  a  living,  digging  it  out 
of  the  earth  or  else  doing  a  service  or  work  of  some 
kind  for  others  who  do  get  it  out  of  the  earth ;  for  if 
man  stopped  work  in  getting  things  out  of  the  earth, 
air,  or  water,  then  in  a  year  or  two,  when  everything 
was  gone  out  of  the  stores  and  off  the  farms,  we  should 
all  die. 

"  There  is  no  good  reason  why  some  few  men 
should  own  all  the  land.  The  earth  itself  belongs  to 
all  the  people  and  not  to  individuals;  and  every  one 
should  have  all  he  can  rightfully  and  economically  use 
or  till  or  personally  occupy,  and  thus  pay  his  share  of 
the  earth's  expenses.  He  should  have  that  and  no 
more.  It  should  not  be  in  his  name  or  ownership;  it 
should  be  in  the  name  of  the  whole  people  or  govern- 
ment, as  it  is  •called,  and  every  person  who  thus  takes 
the  land  should  pay  his  share  of  the  expenses  of  the 
government.  Everything  that  man  produces  or  builds 
on  the  earth — that  is,  all  of  the  accumulated  wealth — 
should  be  free  of  taxation,  for  wealth  is  accumulated 
labor,  and  labor  of  no  kind  should  be  taxed. 

"  Thus,  when  any  person  asks  the  government  for 
a  piece  of  land  to  till  or  build  on,  it  should  be  a  lease 
and  be  his  or  his  heirs  or  assigns  forever  or  as  long  as 
the  taxes  are  paid,  the  same  as  ground  is  held  now; 
for  if  a  man  to-day  does  not  pay  his  taxes,  his  land  is 
sold  to  some  one  who  will  pay.  It  would  be  just  as 
is  the  present  way  of  leasing  for  a  long  term  of  years 
a  piece  of  land,  only  instead  of  leasing  it  for  a  few 
years  from  some  individual  who  has  speculated  for  it, 
you  lease  it  from  the  government  or  the  people,  and 
all  you,  with  your  enterprise  and  energy,  put  on  the 
land  belongs  to  you  free  of  taxes,  and  your  personal 
property  can  be  sold  when  the  lease  is  transferred  to 
some  one  else  as  improvements  on  leased  property  are 
now  transferred.  In  this  way  no  man  will  be  defrauded 
of  his  goods  or  personal  possessions,  and  he  will  be 


TAXES.  171 

smart  enough  not  to  want  to  ask  his  fellow-citizens 
for  more  land  than  he  can  use  or  on  which  he  can 
easily  pay  the  taxes.  Then  as  the  valuable  lots  in  the 
city  or  the  suburban  property  or  farms  become  more 
valuable,  the  people  or  government  will  get  the  profit 
or  advantage  of  it,  instead  of  the  individual  specu- 
lator; and  the  profit  to  the  people  will  show  itself  in 
reduced  taxation  to  every  one,  including  those  first 
persons  who  leased  their  portion  of  the  ground  and 
used  it  at  the  time  the  town  or  city  was  founded. 
Laboring  men  will  then  have  to  pay  less  rent;  for,  in 
other  words,  more  people  will  have  assembled  in  one 
community  to  share  the  expenses  of  the  government, 
and  the  people  all  together,  both  rich  and  poor,  have 
reduced  the  taxation  by  making  for  themselves  the 
profit,  instead  of  a  few  rich  families  who  now  make 
their  landed  wealth  by  sitting  down  and  doing  nothing, 
letting  enterprising  people  build  all  around  them,  thus 
making  more  valuable  their  ground  every  year,  and 
making  them  richer  day  by  day  and  even  by  night 
while  they  are  sleeping.  The  great  landed  wealth  of 
the  country  to-day  is  in  the  hands  of  a  few  rich  fami- 
lies in  each  town  and  city,  whose  wealth  was  produced 
by  no  labor  of  their  own,  but  by  the  efforts  of  the 
people  who  built  up  around  them.  The  people  who 
made  the  additional  values  are  the  ones  who  should  be 
benefited  by  it  in  some  way,  and  the  way  to  do  it  is 
for  the  people  as  a  community  to  own  all  the  land 
themselves." 

"  But,"  said  Fred,  "  how  can  the  people  get  back 
the  land,  now  that  other  people  own  it;  would  it  be 
'  square'  to  take  it  away  from  them?" 

"  No,"  said  Ed ;  "  they  got  it  all  right,  according  to 
law,  and  they  deserve  it,  as  it  is  the  custom  and  usage 
and  way  of  the  present  time ;  and  nothing  that  belongs 
to  a  man  rightfully  should  be  taken  away  from  him 
without  pay.  Please  bear  that  always  in  mind.  Do 


1/2  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

not  get  any  crazy,  anarchistic  notions  in  your  head  to 
want  to  take  away  from  any  one  or  rob  him  of  what 
he  has  and  owns  rightfully  and  according  to  law.  For 
the  good  of  the  common  cause  all  present  landowners 
should  be  paid  with  land  certificates,  bearing  a  low  rate 
of  interest,  by  the  government  for  the  land  only  (not  for 
the  houses  or  improvements),  and  a  small  amount  of 
the  taxes  set  aside  for  the  next  fifty  or  a  hundred  or 
two  hundred  years  to  gradually  pay  the  owners  for  it ; 
but  nothing  on  the  land  should  be  purchased,  but 
should  be  the  owner's  personal  property,  free  of  taxes, 
to  sell  and  dispose  of  and  transfer  to  whomsoever  they 
please,  just  as  houses  on  leased  land  are  disposed  of 
at  present.  But  the  owner  would  have  one  advantage, 
and  that  is,  that  the  new  lease  of  the  land  would  be 
forever  (or  as  long  as  taxes  were  paid),  and  not  for 
only  a  few  years,  as  at  present,  and  a  lease  would  thus 
have  stability." 

"  Has  the  government,"  asked  Micky,  "  a  right  to 
buy  the  land  from  any  one  or  all  who  own  it?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  Ed ;  "  the  government  has  what  is 
called  the  right  of  '  eminent  domain' — that  is,  they  can 
take  land  from  any  one  or  all  of  its  owners  where  the 
public  requires  it-  for  the  good  of  all  the  people ;  and 
this  proposed  plan  of  the  people  taking  all  the  land,  and 
gradually  paying  for  it  in  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  or 
more,  could  come  under  that  ruling  if  the  people 
thought  it  was  best.  If  the  rich  men  of  to-day  would 
only  look  carefully  into  the  matter  themselves,  and  not 
let  a  few  smart  writers  or  stupid  ones  do  their  thinking 
for  them,  they  would  find  out  that  they  and  all  future 
generations  would  be  far  better  off  to  have  business 
and  corporations  and  houses  and  everything  else  free 
of  taxation,  excepting  the  land,  and  the  land  all 
owned  by  the  people  or  government,  the  people  getting 
the  profit  on  the  rising  of  land  values,  instead  of  a  few 
families.  Every  person  on  the  earth  would  then  be 


TAXES.  173 

paying  a  small  rental  or  his  rightful  share  of  the  rent 
of  the  whole  earth  for  the  privilege  of  being  on  it. 

"  Land  only  would  then  be  taxed.  The  farmer's 
house  and  barns,  live  stock  and  implements,  clothing 
and  furniture,  grain  and  fences,  and  everything, 
except  the  land  itself,  would  be  free  of  tax;  and  the 
well-to-do  farmer's  shares  of  stock  in  the  cheese  fac- 
tory and  creamery,  oil  wells  and  gas  mains,  and  other 
investments  would  also  be  free  of  tax,  and  it  would  be 
no  person's  business  what  personal  property  he  owned. 

"  The  village  man's  house  and  furniture,  his  store 
building  and  stock  of  goods,  his  shares  in  the  village 
factory,  and  all  his  possessions  other  than  land  would 
be  free  of  taxes,  and  it  would  be  no  person's  business 
what  he  owned. 

"  The  town  man's  house  and  furniture,  horses  and 
stable,  watches  and  jewelry,  clothing  and  ornaments, 
store  and  goods,  factory  and  material,  county  bonds 
and  trolley  stock,  bicycles  and  rowboats,  stock  in  town 
enterprises  and  gas  companies,  all  would  be  free  of 
tax,  no  assessor  coming  around  yearly  to  pry  into  his 
private  affairs. 

"  The  city  man's  residence  or  palace  or  country  seat, 
with  their  costly  furnishings,  that  by  his  lavish  expen- 
diture gave  employment  to  hundreds  of  laborers  and 
skilful  artisans;  his  clothing  and  that  of  his  family; 
his  horses  and  coaches ;  his  bank  and  railroad  and  a 
thousand  other  stocks;  his  government,  railroad,  and 
other  bonds ;  his  great  business  house  and  stock  of 
merchandise ;  his  cash  in  bank  and  debts  owed  him  by 
merchants  all  over  the  world;  his  great  factories  and 
steamship  lines  and  corporation  stocks  and  all  his  pos- 
sessions, excepting  land,  would  be  free  of  tax,  and  he 
could  be  independent  of  a-n  assessor's  prying  into  his 
affairs. 

"  Each  community  would  practically  pay  its  own 
land  taxes,  as  each  township  has  its  own  characteristic 


174  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

grade  of  expense.  The  city  would  pay  its  own  heavy 
taxes  for  its  own  expensive  style  of  government  and 
the  farmers  would  pay  their  lesser  amount  of  taxes 
for  their  less  expensive  governing  necessities. 

"  It  costs  just  so  much  for  taxes  each  year  in  each 
community,  and  what  difference  does  it  make  whether 
the  tax  collector  charges  all  of  it  to  the  land  or  divides 
it  up  into  a  dozen  items?  The  tax  bill  is  all  the  same 
in  the  end  ;%and  the  farmer,  townsman,  and  city  dweller 
would  average  up  the  same  dollars  and  cents  in  the 
annual  tax  bills  as  in  former  days.  Some  men  might 
pay  more  than  formerly  and  others  less,  but  it  would 
soon  adjust  itself  in  a  righteous  way. 

"  To  tax  land  only  is  the  fairest  way,  as  no  one  can 
evade  or  cheat  the  tax  commissioner.  His  land  is  all 
in  sight  and  cannot  be  hidden ;  and  if  the  government 
accumulates  and  has  on  its  hands  an  unusual  surplus 
area  of  unused  or  idle  land,  then  the  taxes  will  have 
to  fall  in  heavier  amount  on  the  land  which  is  being 
used ;  but  that  will  adjust  itself  in  time  in  a  proper  and 
satisfactory  manner. 

"  As  taxation  stands  now  it  is  very  unfair;  for  the 
enterprising  man  who  is  successful  and  helps  others  by 
giving  them  employment,  thus  supporting  them  and 
their  families,  is  pounced  down  on  by  the  tax  collector 
and  made  to  pay  on  all  he  has  gathered,  while  the 
shiftless,  idle  man  who  has  the  land,  and  lets  it  run  to 
weeds,  and  employs  no  one,  and  is  in  no  way  a  public 
benefactor,  and  makes  his  land  no  good  to  any  one, 
and  is  a  nuisance  on  the  earth,  is  assessed  at  a  low 
figure.  The  present  system  thus  puts  a  premium  on 
idleness  and  sloth  fulness ;  and  the  energetic,  enterpris- 
ing man  whose  land  is  teeming  with  grain  and  cattle, 
and  who  employs  others  and  who  is  born  with  genius 
for  business,  has  to  pay  double  or  tenfold  price  for  his 
enterprise,  for  his  land  is  assessed  so  much  the  higher. 
It  is  all  wrong ;  for  if  there  is  a  man  who  owns  a  large 


TAXES.  175 

tract  of  land  and  will  not  work  it,  he  ought  to  be  taxed 
his  full  and  high  share  for  his  idle  or  disgracefully  kept 
land,  and  thus  be  compelled  to  work  it  himself  or  give 
others  a  right  to  do  so,  not  being  let  off  with  a  paltry 
tax.  If  he  will  not  work  hard  enough  to  pay  his  full 
share  of  taxes,  the  government  or  people  who  own  the 
land  can  transfer  the  lease  to  some  one  else  who  wants 
it  and  will  work  and  employ  others ;  and  he  can  sell  at 
private  sale  or  auction  his  personal  property  that  is  on 
the  lard  or  move  it  to  some  other  place,  as  leaseholders 
do  at  the  present  time. 

"  If  rich  men  tried  to  own  no  land  and  schemed  to 
get  rid  of  their  holdings,  and  only  own  chattels  on 
which  there  were  no  taxes,  then  there  would  soon  not 
be  enough  chattels  to  meet  the  demand  for  the  invest- 
ment of  their  money;  and,  consequently,  there  would 
be  a  great  impetus  to  business  and  manufacturing  so 
as  to  create  more  personal  property.  But  there  is  no 
clanger  of  such  a  thing  happening,  for  the  people  can- 
not get  permanently  away  from  or  off  the  land  if  they 
try.  They  are  obliged  to  have  homes,  factories,  farms, 
and  mines,  and  somebody  will  be  found  ready  to  build 
the  houses  for  other  people  to  live  in  if  they  do  not 
want  or  are  not  able  to  build  on  their  own  account; 
and  before  they  commence  to  build  they  would  have 
to  procure  leases  from  the  government,  and  on  this 
leased  land  they  would  have  to  pay  the  taxes.  Rents 
might  be  a  little  higher,  but  other  things  would  be 
cheaper  and  average  up  the  same  in  the  end.  There  is 
bound  to  be  a  supply  where  there  is  a  demand." 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

REVENUE. 

THE  next  evening  Ed  resumed  his  talk  as  follows: 
"  Every  city,  town,  or  village  has  its  idea  of  how  it 
should  carry  on  its  own  system  of  spending  its  tax 
money  to  make  its  citizens  comfortable  and  have  pro- 
tection for  life  and  property,  and  I  have  explained 
how  I  think  tax  on  one  thing — land — would  be  the 
easiest  and  simplest  plan  to  meet  city  or  town  ex- 
penses. There  are  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  towns  or 
villages  in  a  county  or  state,  each  of  which  has  no 
particular  interest  in  what  the  others  are  doing.  Each 
one  of  them  says :  '  We  want  to  be  let  alone  to  edu- 
cate our  children,  and  pave  our  streets,  and  arrange 
for  our  fire  department  and  police  force,  and  we  will 
raise  our  own  taxes  and  pay  the  amount,  whatever  it 
is,  ourselves,  just  as  we  please,  and  it  is  no  other 
town's  business.' 

"  While  each  city  or  town  is  thus  in  a  measure  in- 
dependent of  the  others,  still  they  cannot  live  like 
hermits  all  to  themselves,  since  it  is  necessary  for  each 
community  to  have  both  friendly  and  business  or 
trade  relations  with  the  others.  They  have  to  be  con- 


REVENUE.  17)7 

nected  by  wagon  roads,  canals,  trolleys,  railways,  tele- 
graph lines,  and  telephones;  and  in  order  to  do  this 
amicably,  for  the  good  of  all,  and  not  be  continually 
quarrelling  or  at  war  with  one  another,  as  the  small 
towns  were  in  the  old  Bible  days,  they  necessarily 
have  to  band  or  join  together  in  townships  and 
counties  or  parishes,  and  as  most  of  the  people  indi- 
vidually are  busy  with  their  own  affairs,  they  have  to 
employ  some  of  their  number  to  look  into  and  attend 
to  the  matter  of  government  for  them.  Then,  again, 
a  number  of  counties  or  parishes  join  together  into  a 
large  state,  and  for  this  reason  still  other  men  have  to 
be  employed  and  paid  to  attend  to  their  respective 
duties  for  the  state.  In  this  manner  there  grows  up 
in  a  community  an  ever-increasing  army  of  office- 
holders, clerks,  and  public  laboring  men  who,  with 
their  families,  have  to  be  supported  by  the  rest  of  the 
people.  In  many  places  in  the  country  the  farmers 
take  turns  and  spend  a  few  days  a  year  in  making  and 
repairing  roads,  and  in  some  towns  there  are  no  paid 
fire  departments,  but  they^  organize  volunteer  com- 
panies and  '  whoop  it  up'  themselves.  In  this  man- 
ner a  little  money  is  saved  to  taxpayers,  but  the  sum 
total  does  not  amount  to  much. 

"  Now,  as  these  county  and  state  officials  must 
have  rooms  and  buildings  in  which  to  attend  to  their 
duties,  the  people  have  to  build  a  state  house  and 
court  houses,  county  jails,  state  penitentiary,  lunatic 
asylums,  and  other  institutions,  all  of  which  require 
money;  and  more  money  is  required  for  the  officials 
to  take  care  of  the  buildings  and  keep  them  in  proper 
order. 

"•Many  plans  have  been  devised  for  raising  such 
state  taxes,  but  after  much  experience  it  is  found 
easiest  to  look  ahead  for  twelve  months  and  calculate 
about  how  much  money  will  be  needed,  and  then  ask 
each  township,  county,  or  city  to.  contribute  its  just 


178  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

share  for  all  these  general  state  expenses — those  that 
are  necessary  outside  of  town  limits  or  boundary  or 
corporation  line.  Each  town  or  city  then  adds  its 
small  porportionate  share  to  the  larger  general  tax 
levy,  and  when  collected  pays  it  over  to  the  state 
treasurer;  and  thus  the  state  and  county  expenses  are 
settled  by  the  united  townships,  all  of  which  is  done 
once  a  year.  If  there  were  enough  criminals  or  luna- 
tics or  orphans  in  one  village,  then  that  place  or  town 
would  erect  buildings  of  its  own  and  ask  no  other 
town's  help  to  pay  the  expenses;  but  as  such  is  not 
generally  the  case,  the  whole  county  or  state  does  it 
for  the  benefit  of  all.  and  each  community  pays  its 
small  share. 

"  How  much  better  this  is  than  among  the  old 
uncivilized  communities,  where  they  killed  off  or  left 
to  die  the  old  folks  who  could  not  care  for  themselves, 
and  burnt  up  insane  people  for  witches!  The  world 
is  growing  better  every  century  from  a  humanitarian 
point  of  view.  The  sick,  insane,  cripples,  orphans, 
blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  old  persons,  and  all  unfortu- 
nates who  have  no  money  are  not  left  to  perish,  but 
every  year  new  appliances  are  invented  and  paid  for 
by  the  whole  people  to  make  brighter  and  more  com- 
fortable the  days  of  the  aged  and  the  afflicted.  If  a 
man  who  lived  a  thousand  years  ago  could  arise  from 
his  grave,  one  of  the  chief  things,  if  not  the  chiefest, 
would  be  his  admiration  for  the  manner  in  which  our 
age  tries  to  care  for  the  unfortunate. 

"  I  have  now  explained  to  you  how  towns,  cities, 
counties,  and  states  raise  money  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  their  various  institutions  and  the  salaries  of  the  army 
of  office-holders  and  laborers  who  are  chosen  to  look 
after  their  local  affairs;  but  there  is  one  more  depart- 
ment for  which  money  must  be  raised  by  taxing  the 
people.  It  is  the  general  government.  A  number  of 
states  join  themselves  together  into  one  federation 


REVENUE.  179 

and  call  themselves  a  nation,  and  choose  some  cen- 
tral headquarters  or  city  in  which  shall  be  the  capital. 
Rulers  must  be  elected,  executive  and  legislative 
buildings  provided,  an  army  and  navy  maintained, 
post-offices  established,  and  people  employed  to  do 
the  clerical  work,  all  of  which  requires  more  or  less 
money  in  proportion  to  the  extravagance  or  economy 
of  the  government. 

"  In  olden  times,  as  in  almost  all  of  the  nations  of 
the  earth  to-day,  kings  and  emperors  ran  their  nations 
as  if  everything  in  the  whole  land  was  theirs.  They 
ruled  and  owned  every  thing  by  what  they  called  divine 
right — that  is,  they  said  God  had  made  them  kings 
or  emperors,  and  they  spoke  of  every  man,  woman  and 
child  and  boy  and  girl  and  baby  as  '  my  people'  and 
claimed  to  own  them  body  and  soul,  as  well  as  all  their 
property.  The  fact  of  the  business  is,  that  if  God 
would  speak  out  as  we  can,  He  would  show  them  all 
to  be  liars  for  making  such  a  statement,  because  they 
do  not  rule  by  divine  right.  Every  good  or  wicked 
one  of  them  or  their  ancestors  obtained  their  throne 
through  intrigue,  strength  of  arms,  bloodshed,  war, 
fire,  and  destruction  generally;  yet  every  one  recog- 
nizes that  some  one  must  rule  a  nation.  Almost  every 
one  would  like  to  do  so,  but  as  all  cannot,  then  it  is 
best  some  one  should  have  the  power  who  will  do  it 
right.  In  our  country  we  choose  from  among  the 
people  the  one  whom  we  think  will  do  it  right  and 
best,  but  what  is  best  or  right  is  always  the  question. 

"  This  question  of  what  is  right  troubles  citizens  of 
all  nations,  as  people  differ  in  their  opinions  regard- 
ing things.  In  absolute  monarchies,  like  Russia,  the 
people  have  no  right  to  have  an  opinion  of  their  own 
as  to  what  is  right.  The  Emperor  is  the  only  one 
who  can  settle  any  great  debatable  question,  and  what 
he  says  '  goes,'  and  any  person  who  values  his  life  or 
freedom  had  better  be  particular  what  he  says  over 


ISO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

there,  for  if  he  has  the  courage  to  differ  with  his  ruler, 
he  is  liable,  at  the  whim  of  the  Emperor,  to  have  his 
head  chopped  off  or  go  to  prison  or  Siberia. 

"  Going  to  war  and  having  his  soldiers  killed  off  is 
not  the  worst  thing  an  emperor  or  king  can  do.  When 
a  person  gets  killed  that  is  an  end  of  his  earthly  exist- 
ence, and  he  is  past  worldly  cares  and  sorrows,  but  the 
real  hardship  comes  to  those  who  are  left  behind,  as 
in  past  ages  kings  and  emperors  have  made  the  lives 
of  their  subjects  awfully  miserable  by  imposing  heavy 
taxes  on  them  to  pay  for  wars  and  for  their  riotous 
and  luxurious  living  and  round  of  pleasure,  and  regal 
entertainment  for  themselves  and  friends.  Often  the 
people  have  had  to  give  up  to  the  tax-gatherer  one- 
half  or  two-thirds  of  all  they  made,  and  then  hardly 
had  enough  left  to  keep  themselves  from  starving. 
There  is  a  great  book  in  heaven  where  an  account  is 
kept  of  the  sorrows  and  sufferings  of  the  tax-ridden 
poor  of  earth,  and  their  old  rulers  will  some  day  have 
to  rise  up  and  explain  things. 

"  The  highest  thought  of  governments  should  be 
to  make  their  people  contented  and  happy,  and  pro- 
tect them  in  their  lives  and  property,  and  then  for 
their  own  services  to  take  as  little  as  possible  in  the 
name  of  taxes. 

"  But  how  to  tax  a  nation  for  its  expenses  is  always 
a  debatable  question.  In  our  country  at  present  we 
have  two  great  parties  which  differ  on  that  subject, 
and  some  of  each  of  them  wish  the  others  were  all 
dead — a  foolish  wish,  for  the  safety  of  the  Republic  is 
in  having  an  honorable  opposition  to  the  party  in 
power.  If  the  party  in  power  had  no  opposition  it 
would  grow  despotic,  and  the  people  in  the  end  would 
suffer;  for  the  meanest  animal  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
is  man  when  he  has  absolute  power.  It  is  always 
best  to  have  two  parties,  so  that  in  the  end  they  may 
settle  that  vexed  question,  What  is  right?  Because  if 


REVENUE.  l8l 

they  do  not  settle  some  great  questions  by  argument, 
then  it  too  often  is  settled  by  war,  and  right  does  not 
always  win. 

'  What  is  right'  is  hard  to  determine,  and  some- 
times both  parties  are  right,  like  the  two  witnesses 
in  the  country  court.  One  witness  swore  by  all  that 
was  holy  that  the  guide-post  sign  was  black  with 
white  letters  painted  on  it,  and  the  other  swore  by  his 
sacred  oath  that  it  was  white  with  black  letters  painted 
on  it.  As  both  men  were  reputable  citizens  the  judge 
adjourned  court  for  all  to  drive  out  and  see  it  for 
themselves,  and  they  found  out  that  both  witnesses 
were  right,  for  the  sign  board  was  painted  differently 
on  reverse  sides,  and  each  witness  had  seen  it  only 
from  the  branch  of  the  road  from  which  he  was  in  the 
daily  habit  of  approaching  the  sign,  or  from  his  point 
of  view;  and  both  swore  according  to  the  truth  as  he 
knew  it. 

"  We  have  two  parties  in  our  United  States  of 
America  who  swear  to  opposite  statements  regarding 
the  same  question  of  taxes  or  tariff  or  internal  rev- 
enue, and  the  reason  they  do  so  is  because  they  look 
at  the  question — as  at  that  guide-post — from  different 
view-points,  and  I  will  now  show  you  that  both  parties 
are  right,  or  how  Free  Trade  is  all  right,  but  the  policy 
all  wrong,  and  how  Protection  is  all  right  and  the 
principle  all  wrong. 

"  There  is  no  question  as  to  the  necessity  of  raising 
the  money  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, for  every  one  is  patriotic  and  loves  his  country. 
He  wants  it  to  exist  as  a  nation,  keeping  the  flag 
waving  from  our  ships  and  forts  and  school-houses  for- 
ever and  ever,  and  to  do  so  every  person  with  common 
sense  admits  that  it  is  necessary  to  have  money;  but 
the  great  question  is,  How  to  raise  the  money? 

"  In  the  old  days,  when  the  emperors  or  kings  rob- 
bed the  farmers  and  traders  of  everything  they  had, 


1 82  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

and  found  the  poor  people  with  nothing  left  at  the 
commencement  of  the  harvest,  they  would  turn  to  the 
chief  tax  gatherers  and  tell  them  to  go  down  with 
their  compliments  to  a  place  like  New  York  or  Boston 
or  Chicago  and  call  upon  the  Vanderbilts,  Peabodys, 
and  Pullmans,  and  request  a  little  contribution  of 
twenty  or  thirty  million  drachmae,  and  as  the  said 
Vanderbilts,  Peabodys,  and  Pullmans  were  somewhat 
anxious  to  keep  their  heads,  they  sent  the  money 
back  with  '  thanks,  awfully.'  Nor  was  it  altogether 
kings  who  did  such  things.  For  instance,  young 
Julius  Caesar,  after  having  a  good  time,  when  he  was 
only  twenty-two  years  old,  found  himself  with  all  his 
inherited  fortune  gone  and  in  addition  thereto  he  was 
$10,000,000  in  debt.  Such  a  trifling  thing  as  that  did 
not  worry  him  even  a  little  bit.  He  simply  gathered 
together  a  band  of  his  fellow-gladiators  and  marched 
to  a  rich  town  in  a  distant  province,  and  by  force  of 
arms  carried  off  $25,000,000,  with  which  he  paid  off 
his  debts  and  divided  the  balance  between  himself  and 
companions.  Such  plans  of  raising  money,  however 
agreeable  to  the  strong  and  mighty,  were  inconven- 
ient to  the  other  fellow;  but  in  these  days  of  enlight- 
enment and  commercial  integrity  money  for  govern- 
ment expenses  is  raised  according  to  law  and  order, 
and  the  people  who  have  to  pay  it  all  look  into  the 
matter  closely  and  want  to  know  about  it,  and  ask 
such  questions  as  '  What  for'  and  '  Why.' 

"  Now  the  best  and  most  convenient  way  to  pay 
the  general  government  expenses  and  '  run  the  na- 
tion' would  be,  in  my  opinion,  to  charge  so  much  per 
head  for  every  person,  man,  woman,  and  child,  and 
each  State  be  responsible  for,  or  see  that  the  amount 
was  collected;  in  this  manner  every  person  would  pay 
for  dwelling  on  the  earth  whether  they  thought  life 
was  worth  living  or  not.  It  would  be  the  cheapest, 
easiest,  and  most  direct  way  of  taxation.  In  this  man- 


REVENUE.  183 

ner  all  taxes  could  be  derived  from  two  things.  First, 
the  land  only  should  be  taxed  for  city  and  State  ex- 
penses, and  it  would  be  easy  and  non-fraudulent,  as 
no  one  could  hide  his  real  estate,  as  no  matter  how 
small  the  area,  it  is  four  thousand  miles  deep  and  can- 
not be  carried  away,  and  every  person  in  some  way 
would  thus  be  obliged  to  pay  rent  for  living  on  the 
earth.  Secondly,  the  people  should  be  taxed  so  much 
per  head  for  the  expenses  of  national  existence.  But 
the  working  people  foolishly  object  to  this  poll  tax 
of  a  certain  sum  per  year  for  each  person,  and  let  other 
ways  be  adopted  that  in  the  end  cost  them  twice  as 
much  without  their  realizing  it — twice  as  much  per 
year  for  every  man,  woman,  child,  and  baby.  I  hope 
some  day  to  talk  up,  and  write  up,  and  make  speeches 
in  favor  of  abolishing  all  the  present  complicated 
forms  of  gathering  taxes  and  see  that  all  revenue  or 
governing  expenses  come  direct  from  two  sources: 
first,  from  the  land  for  local  expenses,  and  second, 
from  each  person  direct  for  national  expenses;  and 
if,  then,  it  is  found  that  some  unfortunate  people  can- 
not pay  their  poll  or  per  capita  tax,  why  then  each  vil- 
lage, town,  or  State  should  he  required  to  raise  among 
themselves,  in  some  manner  of  their  own  choosing, 
the  deficiency." 

When  Ed  was  through,  Micky  said  he  was  glad  to 
hear  about  all  these  things,  as  he  never  knew  or  under- 
stood much  about  taxes  before  or  where  the  money 
came  from.  He  approved  of  Ed's  plan  and  said  it  was 
good  as  far  as  it  went,  but  that -he  (Micky)  when  he 
was  a  man,  was  going  to  turn  his  attention  to  writing 
and  talking  up  some  plan  of  doing  away  with  taxes 
altogether.  (And  he  did  it !) 

All  laughed  at  Micky,  and  as  they  were  parting 
for  the  night  Sally  remarked  that  Ed  had  not 
answered  her  question  yet  as  to  what  was  meant  by 
Free  Trade. 


184  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

Ed  replied  he  would  finish  up  the  subject  the  next 
night;  and  thus  from  day  to  day  the  firm  of  Flynn  & 
Schmidt  filled  their  heads  with  information  that  be- 
came useful  to  them  personally,  and  in  coming  years 
useful  to  the  whole  world. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

NATIONAL    DEBTS. 

"  SEVERAL  times,"  said  Ed,  "  I  have  tried  to  tell  you 
of  the  utterly  helpless  condition  of  the  people  under  the 
ancient  and  mediaeval  kings  and  emperors.  The  poor 
people  in  those  days  were  nothing  more  than  slaves 
trying  to  work  something  out  of  the  earth  or  air  or 
water  that  somebody  wanted,  and  thus  earn  a  little 
money;  but  when  they  got  it,  the  king's  officers  gen- 
erally took  it  from  them  forcibly  under  the  name  of 
taxes,  and  even  the  poor  men's  families  were  taken 
from  them  and  sold  into  slavery  for  debts.  Life  was 
a  burden,  and  they  could  have  truly  said  it  was  not 
worth  living.  In  this  advanced  age  there  are  at  pres- 
ent millions  of  men  in  distant  parts  of  the  earth  who 
are  still  working  year  after  year  for  five  and  ten  cents 
a  day. 

"  The  workingmen  of  the  civilized  world,  especially 
those  in  the  United  States,  where  wages  are  the  high- 
est, think  they  have  a  hard  time  of  it;  no  doubt  they 
have  had  and  are  having  a  hard  time,  but  it  is  child's 
play  compared  with  the  long  hours  under  the  lash  of 
the  taskmasters  in  the  olden  days.  A  poor  man  of 
to-day  spends  more  for  beer  in  a  month  than  would 


l86  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

equal  an  entire  two  years'  wages  of  a  laborer  in  the 
middle  or  earlier  ages.  Things  are  getting  better  for 
the  poor  as  the  centuries  roll  by,  each  hundred  years 
as  it  passes  is  an  improvement  on  the  preceding  one, 
and  when  any  politician  tells  a  poor  man  that  such  is 
not  the  case,  he  simply  lies.  He  is  a  mischief-maker, 
and  ought  to  be  placed  where  he  will  do  no  further 
lying. 

"  The  taxes  of  this  country  per  person  are  small 
compared  with  those  of  Europe  a  thousand  years  ago. 
To-day  they  are  higher  than  they  ought  to  be  because 
government  expenses  are  higher  than  they  ought  to 
be,  and  the  principal  cause  of  the  high  rate  is  war. 
Abolish  war  and  the  happiest  kind  of  an  era  will  come 
to  man. 

"  Only  two  or  three  centuries  ago  wars  were  paid 
for  as  they  occurred.  When  a  king  wanted  money  for 
fighting  purposes,  he  put  on  extra  taxes  for  imme- 
diate necessities,  and  called  on  the  rich  people  for  the 
balance.  But  war  has  become  so  expensive  since 
gunpowder,  cannon,  ironclads,  and  other  modern' 
improvements  have  come  into  use,  that  a  nation  can- 
not raise  in  a  month  or  a  year  for  fighting  purposes 
all  the  money  necessary  for  that  month  or  year.  And 
as  wealth  has  so  vastly  increased,  rulers,  when  war  is 
declared,  have  resorted  to  borrowing  large  sums  on 
long  time  and  they  give  bonds  that  promise  on  their 
face  to  pay  the  money  back. 

"  This  new  bond  plan  puts  another  burden  on  the 
people  in  the  way  of  annual  interest,  which  in  the  end, 
in  some  cases,  amounts  to  more  than  the  original  loan, 
beside  the  fact  that  the  money-lenders  often  only  give 
the  government  about  $50  to  $80  for  a  $100  bond. 
Thus,  when  the  amount  of  the  loan  has  been  paid  back 
by  the  government  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  cents  on 
the  dollar,  the  people  have  that  much  additional  taxes 
to  make  up  and  be  accountable  for,  or  to  pay  back 


NATIONAL   DEBTS.  187 

money  that  the  government  has  never  even  received. 
For  instance,  a  nation  might  want  to  borrow  this  year 
for  war  purposes  $500,000,000  on  bonds  payable  at 
the  end  of  twenty  years  at  5  per  cent,  annual  interest, 
and  the  Treasury  or  War  Department  can  only  get 
$400,000,000  cash  down  for  them,  which  is  a  shortage 
of  $100,000,000,  or.  a  discount  of  20  per  cent.;  but 
when  the  bonds  are  due  at 'the  end  of  twenty  years, 
then  the  government  has  to  pay  the  bondholders  the 
full  $500,000,000,  which  includes  that  extra  $100,- 
000,000  that  the  treasury  never  got,  and  which  was 
clear  profit  in  advance  to  the  investors,  they  being 
generally  banks  or  money-lenders;  and  then,  beside, 
during  that  twenty  years  at  5  per  cent,  interest  per 
annum,  the  government  has  paid  out  another  enor- 
mous sum  of  $500,000,000  for  interest,  which  in  itself 
was  equally  as  much  as  the  original  loan  of  five  hun- 
dred million  issue  of  bonds,  or,  in  other  words,  in  the 
end,  the  government  would  have  paid  out  $1,000,- 
000,000,  where  they  only  actually  received  $400,- 
000,000  twenty  years  before,  for  the  war  expenses. 
This  makes  for  the  bondholders  a  total  profit  of  $600,- 
000,000  on  the  original  $400,000,000  loaned  the  gov- 
ernment, and  the  people  have  to  pay  every  dollar  of 
this  eventually  in  the  shape  of  taxes. 

"  It  is  this  that  makes  modern  warfare  so  heavy  a 
load  to  the  people.  But  dreadful  as  the  burden  is,  the 
people  do  not  in  the  end  seem  to  lose  by  it,  for  who 
is  it  that  gets  the  profit?  It  is  certainly  not  the  gov- 
ernment, for  they  pay  out  $1,000,000,000  for  that  for 
which  they  only  received  $400,000,000.  It  was 
the  rich  people  and  the  banks  who  had  the  money  to 
lend  who  made  the  profit;  and  at  the  same  time  it  is 
not  the  rich  people  alone  who  are  chiefly  benefited  by 
the  profit,  because  the  question  arises,  What  do  those 
rich  people  do  with  it?  They  certainly  do  not  draw 
out  of  bank  the  bills  or  gold  and  sit  down  on  them  or 


1 88  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

let  the. money  stand  idle.  No;  they  build  houses  and 
factories  and  machinery  and  railroads,  and  buy  mines, 
and  travel  on  the  cars,  and  give  entertainments,  and 
buy  furniture  and  horses,  and  build  churches  and 
trolleys  and  steamboats,  and  invest  it  in  a  thousand 
other  ways,  and  all  this  time  the  laboring  man  and 
clerks  are  getting  it  all  in  wages.  It  is  thus  that  that 
vast  sum  of  $1,000,000,000  paid  out  by  the  govern- 
ment has  been  making  business  and  supporting  fam- 
ilies and  supposed  to  be  doing  untold  good. 

"  If  there  had  been  no  saved-up  fortunes,  and  no 
rich  men  in  the  first  place  to  lend  the  money,  there 
would  have  been  no  $1,000,000,000  put  into  the  la- 
boring man's  pockets.  Under  the  present  commercial 
system  some  persons  must  get  rich,  or  no  one  would 
have  money  to  do  business  with,  and  in  most  every 
case  it  is  the  saving  man  who  gets  rich  in  the  end. 
Almost  every  rich  man  of  to-day  was  once  poor  like 
the  rest  of  us,  and  the  poor  men  of  to-day  who  save 
their  money  will  be  the  rich  men  of  the  next  genera- 
tion. Every  one  who  has  ability  has  a  chance  at  for- 
tune. There  is  no  way  of  accumulating  money  ex- 
cept by  saving  it,  only  by  stealing,  and  that  is  what 
anarchists  want  to  do.  A  man  who  earns  $2  a  day  and 
saves  50  cents  is  better  off,  if  others  are  depending  on 
him,  than  the  one  who  gets  $2000  a  year  and  saves 
nothing.  This  $2-a-day  man  will  be  the  rich  man  in 
thirty  years,  and  he  will  be  employing  men  and  loan- 
ing money  to  others,  and  his  family  will  be  the  one  to 
have  the  comforts  and  '  put  on  style.' 

"  The  reason  why  the  rich  men  loaned  that  $400,- 
000,000  dollars  to  the  government  was  because  they 
believed  the  government  would  in  the  end  be  able  to 
pay  the  money  back,  but  if  the  government  had  asked 
for  ten  times  the  amount,  or  $4,000,000,000,  then  no 
one  would  have  been  willing  to  advance  that  much, 
for  all  would  feel '  dead  certain'  the  government  could 


NATIONAL    DEBTS.  189 

not  repay  and  they  would  never  see  their  money 
again.  You  thus  see  there  is  a  limit  even  to  the 
amount  of  money  a  nation  can  readily  borrow,  and 
when  the  governments  have  to  confiscate  or  forcibly 
take  money,  then  their  character  as  a  nation  and  credit 
are  gone. 

"  It  is  in  the  same  manner  that  in  war  times  the 
Treasury  Department  can  print  paper  money  called 
greenbacks,  bearing  no  interest,  and  ask  the  people, 
for  their  services  to  the  government,  to  take  it  and 
use  it  instead  of  gold,  and  the  patriotic  people  say 
yes,  they  will  do  so,  and  they  will  take  it  for  all  their 
wages  or  services  or  for  war  material  furnished,  a  total 
of  $500,000,000  or  a  $1,000,000,000  of  it,  because  they 
believe  the  government  is  good  and  in  future  years 
can  pay  back  or  redeem  that  much  paper  money;  but 
if  the  government  should  become  over-needy  or  over- 
extravagant,  and  want  to  issue  ten  times  as  much,  say 
5,000,000,000  or  10,000,000,000  greenbacks,  then 
the  people  would  not  willingly  take  it  from  the  gov- 
ernment for  wages,  or  services,  or  material,  nor  would 
they  take  it  from  their  employers,  because  they  would 
know  that  the  paper  money  was  worthless,  as  the  gov- 
ernment in  the  end  would  not  be  able  to  redeem  so 
much,  and  they  would  consequently  ask  for  their 
wages  to  be  paid  in  coin. 

"  In  the  West  India  Islands  a  gentleman  once  went 
ashore  from  his  boat  to  entertain  two  or  three  of 
his  travelling  friends  at  a  good  dinner.  After  the 
meal  was  finished  a  bill  was  presented  amounting  to 
$6347.15.  The  gentleman  was  astounded  at  the  out- 
rageous charge,  and  as  he  could  not  pay  it  he  was 
arrested.  He  offered  $20  in  gold,  which  was  all  the 
money  he  had  in  his  pocket,  and  was  quite  surprised 
to  see  the  pleased  expression  on  the  face  of  the  hotel 
man,  who  counted  out  $4  of  the  gold,  and  returned 
the  other  sixteen,  with  many  apologies,  stating  that 


IQO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

the  charge  of  $6347.15  was  in  the  paper  money  or 
greenbacks  of  the  island,  and  this  fabulous  sum  was 
worth  only  $4.03  in  gold.  It  would  result  the  same 
way  in  any  country  where  the  government  issued 
paper  money  or  greenbacks  beyond  its  ability  to  pay 
back  or  redeem — no  person  would  have  faith  in  it. 

"  It  would  be  just  the  same  as  your  confidence  in 
trusting  some  man.  If  you  have  the  money  to  lend, 
you  would  probably  trust  a  certain  man  with  $10,000, 
because  you  know  something  about  him  and  also 
know  that  he  is  a  hustler  and  an  energetic  and  honest 
man,  and  has  property  and  credit,  and  is  able  and  will- 
ing to  pay  back  that  $10,000;  but  if  he,  being  a  man 
in  moderate  circumstances,  asked  you  to  lend  him 
$500,000,  you  would  think  he  was  a  crank.  "  If  he 
issued  his  paper  notes  for  so  large  a  sum  no  person 
would  take  them  at  5  cents  or  I  cent  on  a  dollar;  and 
likewise  the  people  soon  find  out  if  the  government 
is  over-issuing  its  ability  to  pay  back,  and  in  this  en- 
lightened age  they  are  bold  enough  to  ask  the  rulers 
the  pertinent  question :  '  What  are  you  giving  us?' 

"  It  has  not  always  been  war  that  has  brought  heavy 
taxes  and  burdens  on  the  people.  There  was  once  an 
era  of  cathedral  building  in  Europe  that  nearly  sucked 
the  life-blood  out  of  the  people.  The  erection  of  that 
magnificent  cathedral  at  Milan  impoverished  a  whole 
province  for  nearly  two  hundred  years,  and  thus,  in 
the  name  of  religion,  were  the  poor  people  allowed  to 
go  almost  starved. 

"  But  next  to  war,  that  which  has  been  the  greatest 
curse  to  burdened  mankind  was  the  awful  selfish  mag- 
nificence and  lavishness  on  the  part  of  the  kings  and 
nobles  of  the  realm.  They  lived  in  idleness,  and  the 
definition  of  the  word  gentleman  in  those  days  was  a 
man  whose  father  and  grandfather  and  great-grand- 
father, as  well  as  himself,  had  never  worked.  Some 
person  had  to  do  the  work  and  pay  for  the  other  man's 


NATIONAL   DEBTS.  IQI 

fun,  and  it  was  the  laborer  who  did  it.  The  poor  stood 
it  along  with  the  insults  of  the  noble  libertines,  until 
in  France,  a  hundred  years  ago,  it  could  not  be  borne 
a  day  longer.  The  suffering,  insulted  people  rose  and 
fof  a  short  time  inaugurated-  a  reign  of  bloody  terror 
previously  unknown  to  the  world. 

"  In  England  the  imposition  upon  the  poor  was  as 
bad  if  not  worse  than  in  France,  and  similar  bloody 
scenes  might  have  been  enacted  on  the  shores  of 
Cornwall  and  eastward,  if  it  had  not  been  prevented 
by  religion,  and  in  large  part  by  the  teachings  of  a 
good  man  named  Wesley,  who  exhorted  the  poor  to 
suffer  in  silence,  as  did  the  Master  before  them. 
France  was  not  justified  in  her  bloody  manner  of 
righting  the  wrongs  of  man,  as  two  wrongs  never 
make  a  right.  England,  with  her  right  hand  in  the 
grasp  of  the  Master,  silently  suffered  and  withheld  the 
avenging  sword,  and  in  a  civilized  manner  the  people 
thought  and  talked  the  matter  out,  and  she  has  con- 
sequently given  more  real  liberty  to  the  world  than 
her  southern  neighbor.  In  the  art  of  honest  and  ef- 
ficient government  England  leads  the  world  to-day. 
She  has  much  yet  to  do  to  right  the  wrongs  of  the 
downtrodden,  but  the  day  will  come,  and  soon,  when 
those  who  feel  the  most  oppressed  will  be  rewarded 
for  their  patience,  for  argument  and  ballots  are  more 
powerful  and  potent  than  dynamite  in  the  hands  of 
lawless  men. 

"  War  and  government  extravagance  has  lately 
piled  upon  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world  gigan- 
tic bonded  debts,  until  the  amount  has  grown  so  great 
that  the  people  are  perplexed  as  to  how  they  can  pay 
the  annual  levies  or  taxes  made  upon  them  by  their 
respective  rulers.  Many  ways  have  been  devised  to 
collect  the  taxes  from  the  people,  and  the  plan  that 
seems  to  give  satisfaction,  or  the  one  that  is  gener- 
ally adopted,  has  a  flavor  of  trickery  about  it  that 


IQ2  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

would  be  rather  laughable  if  it  were  not  so  serious. 
The  governments,  instead  of  putting  the  question  to 
every  one  in  a  manly  way  and  saying,  you  are  a  part 
of  the  nation  and  your  share  of  the  running  expenses 
is  $5,  and  you  will  be  calted  upon  once  a  year  for  that 
amount — instead  of  doing  that,  the  governments 
burden  the  commerce  and  industry  of  the  nation, 
which  really  ought  to  be  untrammelled  and  free  from 
taxes,  with  all  kinds  of  troublesome  and  vexatious 
charges,  and  change  and  alter  the  rates  so  often  that 
very  few  understand  it,  and  those  that  do,  do  not 
know  what  to  expect  next. 

"  To  explain  more  fully,  the  present  system  of  rais- 
ing the  government  revenue  is  designed  to  not  let  any 
man  know  exactly  what  he  is  paying;  it  fools  many 
persons  into  thinking  it  is  costing  them  nothing;  it 
amounts  to  a  little  on  what  a  man  drinks,  but  how 
much  he  does  not  know;  it  is  something-  on  the  clothes 
he  wears,  but  how  much  he  cannot  calculate,  and 
thus  the  rich  miser  who  buys  only  one  suit  in  two 
years  gets  the  advantage  of  the  liberal  man  who  gives 
employment  to  others  by  ordering  two  or  ten  suits 
a  year,  and  thus  a  mean  rich  man  gets  off  cheaper 
than  his  enterprising  and  poorer  neighbor. 

"  There  have  been  many  wars  in  the  last  century. 
Some  of  them  have  been*  for  conquest,  some  for  free- 
dom, some  for  defence  of  home,  and  some  because  of 
downright  foolishness  and  stubbornness  on  the  part 
of  rulers,  but  whatever  was  the  cause,  the  result  has 
been  that  enormous  debts  have  been  fastened  on 
every  country,  and  as  nation^  should  be  as  honorable 
as  individuals,  it  is  the  pride  of  each  people  to  keep 
up  their  credit  and  pay  dollar  for  dollar  for  all  they 
owe. 

"  Public  improvements  and  pension  rolls  have 
added  to  the  great  burden,  and  each  government  is 
now  at  its  wit's  end  to  know  how  to  raise  the  grand 


NATIONAL   DEBTS.  1 93 

annual  national  taxes  or  assessment.  These  great 
debts  are  having  one  good  effect,  and  that  is,  that 
some  of  the  nations  cannot  borrow  any  more  money 
and  are  obliged  to  suffer  insult  and  are  really  forced 
to  remain  at  peace.  Such  kings  and  their  nobility  are 
suffering  a  good  deal  of  wounded  pride  at  this  present 
moment,  as  they  have  no  funds  for  war  purposes.  If 
they  should  issue  greenbacks  no  other  nation  would 
take  them,  and  the  paper  bills  would  not  be  worth  2 
cents  on  the  dollar  among  their  own  people.  If  to- 
day all  European  nations  were  free  of  debt  and  could 
commence  to  borro\v  all  the  money  they  wanted,  there 
would  be  in  two  months'  time  such  a  general  war  as 
was  never  known  in  the  history  of  the  world.  There 
would  not  be  enough  iron  or  armor-plate  factories  or 
shipyards  to  build  one-fiftieth  part  of  the  squadrons 
wanted.  They  are  just  aching  to  get  at  one  another 
to  satisfy  their  cruel  rivalries  and  right  their  fancied 
wrongs." 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

PROTECTION. 

"  THERE  are  two  general  plans  for  raising  money  to 
pay  government  debts  and  annual  expenses.  The 
first  plan  is  to  tax  home  productions,  such  as  liquors, 
matches,  patent  medicines,  business  documents,  etc., 
by  a  system  of  revenue  stamps;  and  the  second  plan 
is  to  tax  or  charge  duties  only  on  things  that  are  made 
in  foreign  lands. 

"  In  the  United  States,  as  elsewhere,  there  is  a 
great  difference  of  opinion  as  to  which  way  is  right. 
Some  say :  '  Tax  things  made  in  our  own  land,  but 
nothing  that  is  imported  from  other  countries.'  Such 
people  are  called  '  free  traders,'  as  they  want  free  trade 
between  all  the  nations,  and  claim  that  we  should  raise 
our  taxes  only  on  our  own  home  industries.  Others 
say :  '  Put  a  tax  on  everything  that  is  made  in  other 
lands,  that  we  import  or  bring  into  our  country,  and 
have  no  tax  on  anything  that  is  made  or  produced  in 
our  own  land.'  Those  who  think  this  last  plan  is  the 
best,  vote  to  have  laws  passed  so  that  our  laborers  and 
artisans  can  make  everything  we  want  here  in  our 
home  factories  and  get  the  wages  for  it  here,  instead 
of  sending  orders  abroad  and  permitting  workingmen 


PROTECTION.  .  195 

in  foreign  workshops  to  get  the  employment  and 
wages.  People  who  believe  in  this  last  plan  are  called 
protectionists,  because  their  thought  is  to  protect  our 
own  working  people  against  foreigners,  to  have  the 
money  earned  here  and  spent  in  our  own  land,  and 
not  to  give  the  employment  to  workmen  of  other 
nations. 

"  The  two  parties  in  the  United  States  that  have 
been  quarrelling  over  the  question  for  so  many  years 
are  the  Democrats  and  Republicans.    The  Democratic 
party  are  the  free  traders,  and  the  Republicans  are  the  . 
protectionists. 

"  The  free  traders  say  that  merchandise  shipped 
between  the  various  nations  should  be  free  of  tariff  or 
tax  charges,  exactly  the  same  as  goods  are  shipped  free 
of  duties  or  tax  charges  from  one  State  in  our  Union 
to  another,  where  there  is  now  no  such  thing  as  a 
tariff-collecting  custom-house  anywhere  along  our 
own  various  boundary  lines. 

"  There  is  one  thing  that  both  parties  agree  about 
and  have  to  admit — viz.,  that  money  has  to  be  raised 
by  some  means  for  the  United  States  treasury,  and 
raised  promptly,  or  else  the  national  expenses  that 
Congress  annually  arranges  for  cannot  be  paid;  the 
government  would  then  fail  and  go  into  bankruptcy, 
like  any  unfortunate  business  man. 

"  The  people  of  our  land  have  a  sense  of  commer- 
cial integrity,  and  would  not  permit  such  an  event  to 
happen;  if  perchance  any  party  in  power  should  let 
such  a  thing  occur,  it  would  be  defeated  at  the  next 
election  with  such  overwhelming  majority  that  it 
would  think  it  had  been  struck  by  chain-lightning. 

"  It  makes  no  difference,  therefore,  whether  Demo- 
crats or  Republicans  are  in  power,  each  has  to  see  that 
the  National  debt  and  expenses  are  paid.  The  ex- 
penditures amount  now  annually  to  about  $1,000,- 
000,000,  a  sum  to  make  one  dizzy.  It  is  about  $14 


196  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

per  person  of  our  population,  and  is  all  raised  by 
charging  a  little  on  what  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  eats,  drinks,  wears,  handles,  or  enjoys. 

"  If  every  man,  woman,  and  child  paid  his  or  her 
proportion,  or  $14  per  head  cash  down  (they  pay  it 
now  in  duties  and  revenue  tax,  but  do  not  realize  it), 
doing  away  with  all  classes  of  revenue  and  duties,  then 
all  would  be  just  as  well  off  in  the  end,  for  the  poor 
man  would  have  to  get  that  much  additional  wages 
out  of  his  employer,  and  at  the  same  time,  if  such  a 
plan  were  adopted,  it  would  save  years  of  wrangling 
and  disputing  and  do  away  with  heated  discussions  on 
the  subject  of  free  trade  and  protection. 

"  By  such  a  system  of  per  head  or  per  capita  taxa- 
tion there,  would  be  less  government  extravagance 
and  fewer  wars,  as  the  people  would  then  be  more 
forcibly  and  personally  made  aware  of  each  additional 
10  cents  or  $i  added  to  their  own  share,  as  shown  by 
the  rising  or  falling  of  their  annual  personal  tax  bill, 
and  they  would  feel  perfectly  cool  and  contented  if  the 
rate  went  downward  toward  zero,  but  they  would 
make  it  '  hot'  for  their  representative  when  the  extra 
added  dimes  forced  their  tax  upward  among  the 
higher  figures  on  the  tax  thermometer. 

"  But  this  plan  of  per  capita  or  per  head  tax  is  un- 
popular, and  the  poor  people  and  farmers  will  not 
have  it.  They  are  really  working  against  their  own 
interests  by  talking  it  down.  It  seems  to  be  so  un- 
kindly regarded  that  I  probably  had  best  never  have 
mentioned  it,  although  in  bringing  it  before  you  I 
have  tried  to  inform  you  of  what  the  individual  re- 
sponsibility of  citizens  will  be. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  tax  is  put  on  what 
we  eat,  drink,  and  wear,  we  do  not  exactly  realize  it  or 
know  about  it,  and  it  sweetly  glides  from  our  con- 
sciousness; the  politicians  know  this,  and  have 
schooled  themselves  to  this  kind  of  deception  in  rais- 


PROTECTION.  197 

ing  revenue;  that  is,  the  deception  of  letting  no  one 
know  exactly  what  taxes  they  are  personally  paying, 
and  then  they,  the  politicians,  can  more  easily  raise 
the  grand  total. 

"  The  reason  why  most  people  are  poor  and  have 
so  little  to  pay  taxes  on  is  because  they  do  not  know 
how  to  save  money  or  to  do  business.  They  are  born 
without  the  least  particle  of  genius  in  that  line.  They 
will  always  be  poor  and  will  always  fail,  no  matter 
how  often  they  go  into  business.  They  are  adapted 
only  to  work  for  others,  and  it  is  a  kindness  to  let 
them  know  it.  But  others  are  born  with  a  genius  for 
business.  They  can  command  and  engineer  enterprises. 
They  are  the  ones  that  devise  plans  and  enable  the 
world  to  get  a  living  and  add  to  its  wealth,  and  when 
the  poor  people  try  to  '  down'  their  employers,  they 
are  sawing  from  off  the  tree  the  limb  on  which  they 
are  sitting.  The  anarchists  who  want  to  take  property 
away  from  the  rich  would  ruin  the  industry  of  a  nation 
in  five  years  if  they  were  put  in  charge.  They  are  not 
business  men.  They  are  idlers  and  non-producers, 
and  want  to  appropriate  or,  in  more  direct  language, 
steal  the  savings  of  others. 

"  All  commerce  and  business  should  be  free.  Gen- 
ius should  not  be  taxed.  But  since  the  government 
money  has  to  be  raised  by  the  present  custom  or  in- 
iquitous practice  of  directly  taxing  business,  or,  in 
other  words,  taxing  the  genius  of  business  men  and 
corporations  that  engineer  the  wealth  of  the  nation, 
then  necessarily  comes  up  that  interminable  discus- 
sion about  free  trade  and  protection. 

"  The  subject  is,  against  \vhom  are  we  to  protect 
ourselves  ?  With  whom  are  we  to  have  free  trade  ?  And, 
of  course,  it  is  evident  it  does  not  mean  against  our- 
selves, but  against  foreign  countries.  Now,  if  a  nation 
had  a  barrier  of  icebergs  one  or  two  hundred  miles 
wide,  or  an  extended  high  wall,  shutting  it  completely 


198  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

in,  and  it  lived  all  alone,  to  and  for  itself,  and  it  had  no 
business  transactions  with  any  other,  and  did  not  want 
another's  produce  or  manufactures,  or  never  allowed 
an  outsider  to  come  within  its  iron  gates,  then  it 
would  live  in  ignorance  of  other  nations,  just  as  we 
are  uninformed  concerning  the  inhabitants  of  other 
planets.  But  we  are  beginning  to  learn  that  this  is 
only  a  little  world,  and  the  earth  seems  to  get  smaller 
every  year  as  the  railroads  and  steamships  go  faster 
and  faster,  and  now  only  a  few  days  are  required  to 
bring  us  face  to  face  with  other  nations  that  formerly 
•seemed  so  far  away.  A  few  dollars  only,  where  it  used 
to  cost  thousands,  will  carry  us  to  other  climes  or 
bring  to  our  homes  the  produce  and  manufactures  of 
far-away  lands. 

"  The  question  naturally  arises :  Why  do  we  want 
things  from  other  lands?  Why  do  we  not  cultivate 
and  manufacture  at  home  everything  our  people 
want?  Many  answers  can  be  given  to  these  queries. 
In  the  first  place,  there  are  many  things  that  cannot 
be  found  or  will  not  grow  in  our  land,  and  as  the  peo- 
ple insist  on  having  them  and  will  not  deny  them- 
selves, those  articles  have  to  be  imported,  and  vast 
sums  of  money  are  sent  out  of  the  country  to  pay  for 
them,  such  as  tea,  coffee,  spices,  indigo,  rubber,  tropi- 
cal fruits  and  oils,  nuts,  silks,  diamonds,  gems,  and 
hundreds  of  rare  drugs. 

"  Then,  again,  in  our  country  are  many  foreigners 
who  have  come  here  to  make  it  their  future  home,  and 
when  they  are  able  to  pay  for  the  things  they  were 
accustomed  to  have  in  the  old  lands,  and  they  find 
such  goods  made  here  are  not  to  their  liking  or  are 
poorer,  or  are  not  made  or  grown  here  at  all,  they 
send  their  orders  across  the  ocean,  and  the  goods 
have  to  be  imported.  Thus  workmen  in  the  old 
country  get  wages  instead  of  the  workmen  here  for 
making  such  things;  but  if  those  new  citizens  of  our 


PROTECTION.  199 

land  had  been  satisfied  to  eat  and  drink  and  wear  and 
use  such  things  as  we  make  in  America,  then  our  own 
idle  workmen  would  not  stand  day  after  day  on  the 
corners  with  empty  pockets,  but  would  be  receiving 
welcomed  wages  as  each  Saturday  night  rolled 
around. 

"  In  foreign  lands  there  are  articles  of  luxury,  fine 
wearing  apparel,  jewelry,  choice  wines  and  foods, 
bric-a-brac,  furniture,  and  a  thousand  other  things 
that  the  rich  as  well  as  poor  of  our  country  prefer. 
The  workmen  or  artisans  abroad  can  make  them 
cheaper  and  better  and  in  some  cases  handsomer  than 
we  can  make  them  here,  and  they  can  do  so  for  several 
reasons.  First,  there  are  workshops  in  foreign  lands 
where  such  goods  have  been  made  for  two  or  three 
hundred  years,  and  entire  families,  consisting  of 
father,  mother,  grown  sons  and  daughters,  and  all 
the  small  children,  work  at  the  same  table  on  the  same 
kind  of  articles  from  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  until 
ten  at  night,  becoming  expert  and  quick,  and  are 
really  born  into  their  future  trade  or  business.  Sec- 
ond, because  the  whole  family  work  such  long  hours 
and  can  live  so  cheaply  over  there  they  can  afford  to 
work  for  low  wages,  such  as  10  to  40  cents  a  day, 
while  our  laboring  families  in  America,  where  it  costs 
more  to  live,  want  from  50  cents  to  $3  a  day  to  pay 
their  expenses  and  building  association  dues,  for  we 
are  more  ambitious  in  America,  and  the  poorest  man 
aspires  to  have  a  home.  All  of  this  means  that  cer- 
tain articles  made  abroad  would  cost  $2  in  labor,  while 
over  here  in  America  they  would  cost  $5  or  $6. 

"  If  you  go  to  a  store  in  America,  and  find  on  the 
shelf  an  article  made  in  America  for  $5,  and  by  the 
side  of  it  another  one  as  good,  or  even  better  and  more 
beautiful,  made  in  Europe,  costing  only  $2.50,  it  is 
natural  that  you  would  take  the  cheaper  or  European 
article,  the  foreign  workshops  consequently  getting 


2OO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

the  money  while  the  goods  made  in  America  would 
remain  on  the  shelf.  The  result  would  be  that  our 
American  workshop  would  have  to  quit  business  and 
our  workmen  remain  idle;  whije,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  storekeepers  would  send  large  orders  to  Europe  for 
more  of  the  same  cheap-labor  goods,  keeping  the  for- 
eign factories  busy,  and  all  the  workmen  abroad 
would  get  wages  and  be  happy;  while  our  workmen 
here  in  America  would  walk  the  streets  in  idleness,  or 
else  they  could  all  go  to  farming  and  raise  grain  for 
a  living.  This,  in  the  end,  would  be  of  great  disad- 
vantage and  disaster  to  the  present  farmers,  as  too 
many  tillers  of  the  soil  would  overstock  the  market 
and  make  the  wheat  and  corn  lower  in  price  than  it  is 
now.  That  would  be  a  great  misfortune,  as  the  farm- 
ers find  the  price  of  produce  low  enough  at  present, 
and  can  hardly  earn  a  good  living  as  it  is,  much  less 
save  something  each  year  on  which  to  get  rich  or  for 
their  old  age,  and  their  only  chance  for  profit  is  when 
famines  are  in  other  unhappy  lands. 

"  When  the  tariff  is  put  on,  then  the  articles  rise 
in  value  and  people  have  to  pay  more  for  them,  and 
it  is  then  that  unthinking  people  get  mad  and  want 
to  vote  the  protecting  party  out  of  power.  When 
they  do  so  they  find  our  mills  and  factories  must  shut 
down,  every  person  is  idle,  our  laborers  are  without 
money,  and  all  worse  off  than  ever.  Then  they  want 
to  vote  the  old  party  into  power  again,  and  clamor 
for  a  new  tariff,  so  that  people  will  be  employed;  and 
thus  this  question  of  free  trade  is  continually  destroy-' 
ing  government  tranquillity. 

"  The  question  therefore  arises,  if  the  farmer  is  sure 
of  a  living,  what  to  do  to  help  the  workmen  in  the 
factories,  as  they  know  nothing  of  farming,  and  are 
skilful  in  only  their  own  trade.  The  farmers  are  pretty 
certain  to  get  something  to  eat  out  of  their  land  and 
to  keep  themselves  from  starving,  even  if  they  do  not 


PROTECTION.  201 

all  get  good  clothes;  but  if  the  factory  men,  women, 
boys,  and  girls  have  no  work  they  are  helplessly 
stranded.  They  are  far  worse  off  than  the  farmers,  as 
they  have  no  land  to  cultivate  for  food,  and  they  not 
only  cannot  get  good  clothes,  but  find  nothing  to  eat 
on  the  breakfast  table,  and  they  naturally  are  filled 
with  sorrow  as  they  see  people  buying  foreign  goods 
in  their  own  American  stores — just  such  things  as  the 
American  workmen  themselves  know  how  to  make 
skilfully.  The  question  arises  in  their  minds,  how  can 
we  as  a  nation  stop  patronizing  these  foreigners  and 
do  the  work  ourselves;  and  they  say:  '  In  Europe  the 
factories  are  running  and  men  all  employed,  but  here 
we  are  walking  the  streets  in  idleness  and  our  families 
are  starving.  Why  can  we  not  make  all  these  im- 
ported goods  at  home?  All  kinds  of  living  are  dearer 
in  new  countries  than  in  old  ones,  and  since  we  are 
here  and  cannot  get  away,  what  can  we  do?  We  can- 
not afford  to  work  as  cheap  as  foreigners  do  in  their 
land.' 

"  Some  one  suggests,  since  the  government  requires 
money  to  pay  its  annual  expenses,  that  the  President 
charge  a  high  duty  on  everything  imported.  This 
high  duty  when  added  to  the  price  of  foreign  goods 
would  make  them  cost  on  the  store  shelf  as  much,  if 
not  more,  than  what  we  can  make  them  for  in  our 
own  land?  So  the  government  passes  a  law  to  that 
effect,  and  the  prices  of  foreign  articles  when 
they  arrive  go  up,  and  the  storekeeper  buys  a  new 
feather-duster  and  brushes  the  dust  and  cobwebs  away 
from  those  old  American  goods  that  have  been  idle 
on  the  shelf  for  years,  and  he  finds  he  can  sell  them 
now  for  half  a  dollar  cheaper  than  the  foreign  ones, 
and  the  customer  buys  them  and  saves  that  50  cents. 
The  storekeeper,  instead  of  sending  his  new  orders  to 
Europe,  sends  them  down  to  the  city  or  town  factory 
in  our  own  land,  and  the  glad  proprietor  of  the  fac- 


2O2  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

tory  hunts  up  on  the  corners  his  old  and  idle  work- 
men, starts  the  mill  going,  and  pays  out  the  weekly 
wages  as  of  old,  and  great  rejoicing  follows  and  people 
once  more  look  happy.  That  is  the  way  the  protec- 
tionist looks  at  it. 

"  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  free  trader  says :  '  By 
your  shutting  out  the  European  imports  you  are  do- 
ing a  wrong  to  the  foreigners,  for  in  a  few  months' 
time  their  workmen,  instead  of  you,  will  in  their  turn 
be  walking  the  streets  in  idleness,  and  their  families 
will  then  be  the  starving  ones;'  and  then  every  good 
man  in  our  land  who  has  a  kind  heart  and  who  is  lis- 
tening to  the  talk  of  the  free  trader  will  stop  right 
there  and  think  seriously  over  the  matter.  It  is  right 
at  this  point  in  the  argument  that  the  free  trader  has 
the  advantage  over  the  protectionist,  for  it  is  true  that 
we  ought  to  feel  sorry  for  the  misfortunes  of  all  man- 
kind and  should  do  unto  others  as  we  would  have 
them  do  unto  us.  This  is  the  golden  rule,  and  if  we 
have  reverence  for  the  Bible  and  sacred  things,  we 
should  not  carelessly  pass  by  this  part  of  the  argu- 
ment of  a  free  trader's  plea,  for  free  trade  is  the  golden 
rule  of  commerce,  and  that  is  why  a  free  trader's  cause 
at  first  glance  seems  so  just,  because  he  has  the  argu- 
ment to  start  with  in  his  favor;  but  he  seems  to  forget 
that  selfishness  is  still  a  potent  factor  in  the  world  and 
he  must  not  expect  a  workman  to  look  into  the 
pinched  faces  of  his  starving  family  and  see  the  tears 
and  sufferings  of  his  little  children  and  then  calmly 
kneel  down  by  their  side  and  feed  them  on  the  free- 
trade  pamphlets  and  golden-rule  literature  sent  to 
them  by  the  Cobden  Club  of  London.  It  is  foolish- 
ness for  the  tree  traders  to  say  that  all  the  unemployed 
laborers  should  go  to  farming  for  a  living;  the  me- 
chanics know  nothing  about  farming,  and  would 
make  sad  failures  at  it.  Besides,  they  have  no  money 
to  buy  farms  with  or  even  funds  enough  to  pay  the 


PROTECTION.  2O3 

railroad  fares  to  where  farming  lands  can  be  obtained, 
and  farmers  will  not  employ  them  in  their  immediate 
neighborhood  because  they  know  nothing  of  the 
business. 

"  If  all  the  world  would  come  together  and  agree 
upon  a  price  to  pay  for  silver,  then  that  would  in  a 
measure  settle  the  silver  question;  and  likewise  if  all 
the  nations  would  come  together  and  settle  on  a  uni- 
form and  equitable  schedule  of  wages  for  every  class 
of  work,  then  the  workmen  of  the  world  would  all  be 
on  an  equal  footing,  and  free  trade  would  grow  of  its 
own  motion  and  sweet  free  will;  but  as  long  as  a  man 
receives  10  cents  a  day  in  Japan  and  50  cents  a  day  in 
Europe  and  $i  a  day  in  America,  it  is  impossible  to 
adjust  matters  and  have  free  trade.  American  $2-a- 
day  labor  has  been  competing  with  European  $i-a- 
day  labor  for  many  years;  but  it  has  before  it  now  a 
still  graver  situation.  Japanese  25-cent  labor,  with 
modern  machinery  and  methods,  is  looming  up  as  the 
problem  of  the  future,  and  then  in  later  years  it  will 
be  Chinese  2O-cent  and  then  India's  I5~cent  and  Cey- 
lon's lo-cent-a-day  labor  that  will  confront  our  labor- 
ers and  artisans. 

"  If  protection  of  some  kind  is  not  arranged  for  to 
protect  our  workmen  against  these  cheap  foreigners, 
it  is  evident  that  we  shall  have  to  change  our  style  of 
living  and  come  down  to  lower  levels,  and  our  labor- 
ing men  all  will  have  to  live  on  rice.  If  under  present 
conditions  free  trade  were  adopted  for  all  future 
time,  our  girls  would  forget  there  was  such  a  thing 
as  ice  cream,  and  they  would  have  fewer  ribbons  and 
plainer  dresses,  our  boys  would  have  no  bicycles,  and 
there  would  be  no  money  for  common  school  educa- 
tion. 

"  It  will  be  a  cheerful  thing  for  the  world  and  a 
grand  day  for  mankind  when  free  trade  can  be  unani- 
mously adopted  by  the  nations;  but  as  long  as  there  is 


2O4  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

selfishness  on  earth;  as  long  as  the  vast  majority  of 
American  men  are  not  willing  to  sacrifice  all  the  com- 
forts of  life  for  their  brother  man  in  America,  let 
alone  for  those  in  foreign  lands;  as  long  as  most  men 
do  not  prefer  one  another  in  honor;  as  long  as  such  a 
state  of  affairs  exists  on  earth,  the  free-trade  idea  is  a 
delusion  and  a  snare.  Its  principle  is  right,  but  its  policy 
is  ahead  of  the  age,  and  a  poor  man  who  works  for  his 
daily  bread  is  justified  in  asking  his  government  to 
protect  him  from  those  who  can  live  so  much  more 
cheaply  in  foreign  lands,  where  conditions  are  so  en- 
tirely different  from  those  in  his  own  country. 

"  He  also  has  the  right  to  ask  his  government  to 
prevent  the  volume  of  immigration  in  such  masses  as 
to  affect  or  lower  the  laborers'  wages  in  his  own  land. 

"  For  a  practical  illustration  or  example  of  the 
workings  of  free  trade  and  protection  the  following 
will  bring  more  clearly  to  your  mind  the  injustice  of 
one  nation  with  low  wages  competing  with  another 
nation  which  gives  a  higher  compensation  for  its 
labor. 

"  In  America  a  lad  goes  to  his  father,  who  is  a 
mechanic  in  a  machine  shop,  and  says  to  him,  *  Father, 
almost  all  my  companions  at  school  have  bicycles. 
Will  you  let  me  have  one  also?'  The  father  brushes  a 
tear  from  his  eye  and  says,  '  My  dear  son,  I  love  you 
as  much  as  any  rich  man  in  the  world  loves  his  child, 
and  there  is  nothing  I  would  not  willingly  do  for  you 
if  it  were  in  my  power;  but  I  am  a  laboring  man  and 
receive  only  $2.25  a  day  for  my  work,  and  I  have  your 
mother  and  your  brothers  and  sisters  to  support,  and 
to  pay  from  $45  to  $100  for  a  bicycle  such  as  you  men- 
tion is  beyond  my  means.  Gladly  would  I  give  you 
one  if  it  were  in  my  power,  but  as  long  as  we  are  de- 
pendent upon  my  weekly  wages  it  will  be  as  impos- 
sible for  me  to  grant  your  request  as  if  you  were  to 
ask  me  for  a  fine  gold  watch  or  a  diamond  ring.  Such 


PROTECTION.  2O5 

things  are  luxuries.'  And  the  child  has  to  do  with- 
out his  bicycle. 

"  In  about  a  month's  time  the  boy  returns  to  his 
father,  and  with  joy  informs  him  that  a  shipload  of 
high-grade  bicycles  has  just  arrived  from  a  manufac- 
tory in  Japan,  where  the  labor  is  very  cheap — only  20 
cents  a  day.  They  have  manufactured  them  over 
there  at  such  a  low  price  that  he  can  get  a  Japanese 
bicycle  on  the  next  street  as  good  as  he  wants  for  $8. 
The  father  goes  around  to  the  store  where  Japanese 
bicycles  are  on  sale  and  examines  them,  and  being  a 
mechanic,  pronounces  them  first  class  in  their  con- 
struction, equal  to  '  high-grades'  of  our  American 
manufacturers,  and  tells  his  boy  that  at  the  price  of 
$8  he  will  buy  one  for  him  if  it  is  possible  to  make 
arrangements  to  pay  for  it  at  the  rate  of  50  cents  per 
week,  which  he  succeeds  in  doing. 

"  At  the  end  of  six  weeks  all  the  bicycle  factories  in 
the  United  States  have  been  thrown  into  consterna- 
tion and  confusion,  as  two  dozen  more  ships  from 
Japan,  carrying  three  hundred  thousand  bicycles, 
have  arrived  at  New  York  and  San  Francisco.  Bi- 
cycles cannot  be  made  in  America  at  any  such  figures, 
and  all  the  factories  in  that  line  have  to  go  out  of  busi- 
ness, and  general  bankruptcy  comes  to  the  bicycle 
trade. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  eighth  week,  when  the  boy  has 
already  paid  $3.50  on  his  machine,  he  comes  home  in 
the  evening  to  get  his  50  cents  for  the  eighth  pay- 
ment, and  finds  his  mother  and  brothers  and  sisters  in 
tears,  for  the  father  has  told  them  that  the  factory 
where  he  works  has  shut  down.  The  company  made 
rubber  tires  for  the  American  bicycles,  but  no  more 
orders  are  now  coming  in,  and  he  makes  inquiries,  and 
finds  every  other  rubber  factory  in  the  same  line  in  the 
United  States  has  also  shut  down.  He  applies  to 
other  industries  for  work,  and  is  surprised  to  find  that 


206  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

there  is  hardly  a  business  of  any  kind  in  the  country 
that  has  not  been  injured  by  losing  trade  for  work  of 
various  kinds  on  American  bicycles,  and  at  every 
place  he  applied  to  he  found  that  instead  of  being 
able  to  give  the  employment  he  asked  for,  they  were 
discharging  week  by  week  additional  men.  He  meets 
on  the  streets  hundreds  of  idle  workmen  like  himself 
who  have  been  laboring  in  industries  connected  with 
the  bicycle  trade  and  have  all  been  discharged,  and  are 
without  situations.  The  result  is,  that  the  boy  cannot 
obtain  from  his  father  even  the  sum  of  50  cents  per 
wreek  for  nine  weeks  more  for  the  final  payments  on 
the  cheap  bicycle  imported  from  a  foreign  country, 
where  the  labor  is  only  20  cents  per  day. 

"  The  majority  of  the  factories  and  laborers  of  the 
country  were  doing  well  before  the  Japanese  bicycles 
arrived,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  workmen  were 
employed  in  the  various  industries  connected  there- 
with, but  now  the  workmen,  superintendents,  clerks, 
and  bookkeepers  are  all  out  of  situations,  their  fami- 
lies are  sufferers,  and  the  question  is  what  should  the 
government  do  about.it?  Should  Congress  let  the 
matter  pass,  or  should  they  put  a  protective  duty  on 
imported  bicycles  of  about  $50  each,  and  in  this  man- 
ner shut  out  all  foreign  makes,  and  give  the  wages  and 
employment  to  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  un- 
employed the  same  as  before? 

"  Some  persons  must  suffer  if  a  high  duty  is  de- 
clared, among  them  the  bicycle-riding  boy  whose 
parents  are  not  rich.  Such  a  boy  will  have  to  wait 
until  he  himself  becomes  old  enough  to  earn  suffi- 
cient money  to  provide  him  with  the  luxury  of  an 
American  wheel;  but  while  the  poor  boy  is  without  his 
high-priced  American  bicycle,  a  hundred  thousand 
families  are  being  supported  by  fathers  and  brothers, 
through  employment  given  them  in  American  bicycle 
factories.  The  weekly  expenses  in  the  laborers'  homes 


PROTECTION.  2O7 

are  now  met  and  the  grocery  bills  are  paid,  and  to  see 
these  families  kept  from  starving  is  enough  incentive 
for  an  American  boy  to  do  without  a  bicycle. 

"  But  while  the  above  is  all  true  about  protection 
making  the  charge  for  bicycles  so  high,  still  the  ex- 
cessive price  is  only  temporary,  for  if  that  bicycle  boy 
will  wait  long  enough,  he  can  get  his  American-made 
wheel  as  cheap  as  he  desired,  in  spite  of  protection.  If 
time  is  given  to  our  American  manufacturers  to  per- 
fect machinery  for  bicycles  and  other  articles  and  to 
create  a  demand  for  the  same,  then  when  seventeen 
years  have  passed  and  the  patent  expires  on  the  bi- 
cycles themselves,  and  competition  is  entered  into,  the 
price  of  the  $100  bicycles  will  go  down  to  $10  and 
$25  in  our  land,  and  we  can  sell  them  abroad  in  com- 
petition with  any  nation.  When  we  in  the  United 
States  first  commenced  to  make  steel  rails,  we  had  a 
high  duty  and  the  selling  price  was  $175  per  ton;  but 
after  Yankee  invention  was  brought  to  bear  on  the 
subject,  and  plants  established  on  a  large  scale,  the 
price  was  gradually  reduced  to  $20  per  ton,  and  we 
had  a  foreign  demand  and  were  able  to  compete  with 
the  world.  It  has  been  the  same  with,  many  articles, 
and  will  be  with  everything  else  if  there  is  a  sufficient 
demand  to  justify  American  invention  and  invest- 
ment of  capital.  This  is  the  panacea  that  should 
soften  the  hearts  of  those  '  Golden  Rule'  people  who 
pity  the  poor  workmen  in  foreign  lands  who  are 
thrown  out  of  employment  by  our  mills  being  in  oper- 
ation. 

"  The  proper  thing  for  us  to  do  is  to  protect  every 
industry  until  we  can  afford  to  take  tire  duties  off  and 
then  enter  into  competition  with  the  world. 

"  The  United  States  Government  has  protected 
many  industries  in  the  same  manner  as  above  stated 
regarding  bicycles,  and  if  the  duties  were  removed 
too  soon  this  change  would  close  half  or  two-thirds  of 


2O8  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

the  factories  in  the  country.  If  the  factories  close, 
most  of  the  coal-mines  would  close.  If  the  coal-mines 
and  factories  were  closed,  then  most  of  the  railroads 
would  be  obliged  to  discharge  two-thirds  of  their 
men,  as  there  would  be  no  great  volume  of  freight 
moving.  If  all  people  were  out  of  employment,  the 
country  retail  stores  would  have  no  customers  and 
fail  in  business,  and  if  these  small  stores  failed  then 
the  wholesale  stores  would  become  bankrupt,  as  they 
could  not  collect  their  money  and  pay  their  own 
debts.  If  nearly  every  person  failed,  the  doctors,  law- 
yers, ministers,  teachers,  and  hundreds  of  others 
would  go  without  money  for  their  services,  and  the 
good  Lord  only  knows  what  would  become  of  the 
people,  as  they  could  not  all  go  to  farming,  and  the 
backbone  and  enterprise  of  the  nation  would  be 
broken.  This  is  what  makes  dull  times. 

"  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  protect  our  indus- 
tries, and  it  is  a  part  of  wisdom  to  admit  free  of  duty 
only  those  things  from  foreign  countries  which  do  not 
interfere  with  our  home  industries. 

"  It  is  wrong  to  preach  free  trade  in  the  present 
state  of  society,  and  if  nothing  else  will  convince  a 
free  trader,  then  results  should  be  an  argument,  for 
when  our  country  commenced  a  course  of  aggressive 
protection  our  whole  national  wealth  was  estimated  at 
$15,000,000,000,  and  after  twenty  or  thirty  years' 
trial  the  nation  is  worth  $75,000,000,000.  Is  not  that 
good  business  genius?  Nothing  succeeds  like  success. 

"  Free  traders  who  are  still  fighting  for  their  opin- 
ions in  the  face  of  the  above  figures  are  like  a  small, 
unenterprising  "storekeeper,  who  for  thirty  years  kept 
predicting  that  his  hustling  competitor  across  the 
street  would  go  to  ruin  by  carrying  on  his  business  in 
such  a  rushing,  unscientific,  or  new-method  manner. 
At  the  end  of  ten  years  the  croaker  was  still  worth 
$10,000,  while  his  hustling  neighbor,  by  his  new 


PROTECTION.  2O9 

methods,  had  grown  rich,  his  accumulations  increas- 
ing from  $20,000  to  $1,000,000. 

"  At  the  end  of  twenty  years  the  croaker  was  still 
worth  his  little  $10,000,  while  the  hustler  was  worth 
$10,000,000  and  giving  employment  to  fifty  thousand 
men.  At  the  end  of  thirty  years  the  croaker  with  his 
same  little  $10,000  still  kept  up  his  cry  that  the  other 
man  would  fail  and  become  a  bankrupt,  yet  the  great 
man's  possessions  were  now  $50,000,000,  and  two 
hundred  thousand  men  were  on  his  pay-rolls. 

"  That  is  just  the  case  with  the  United  States.  The 
free  traders  have  always  predicted  disaster  to  our 
country.  They  have  been  calamity  howlers,  and  yet 
in  the  face  of  their  statements  we  are  greater  and 
richer  and  stronger  than  ever,  and  are  still  moving 
onward  and  upward,  and  we  have  less  dull  periods  or 
depressions  in  business  than  other  nations. 

"  The  free  traders  are  always  holding  up  England 
as  an  example  of  success  with  free  trade.  This  is  not 
a  fair  illustration.  It  is  not  fair  because  it  is  like  going 
into  a  country  town  where  there  is  only  one  million- 
aire and  banker  in  the  place,  and  proceeding  to 
upbraid  some  poor  man  who  keeps  a  small  retail  dry- 
goods  or  grocery  store  for  not  living  in  the  same  style 
and  spending  as  much  money  for  his  family  as  the 
great  millionaire  banker  does.  But  the  retailer  re- 
plies that  he  cannot  do  so,  for  he  is  younger  and  not  so 
rich  as  the  .banker.  The  great  rich  man  came  to  the  vil- 
lage before  the  dry-goods  man  was  born,  and  had  the 
first  chance  to  get  the  whole  town  site  for  almost  noth- 
ing. He  also  made  great  profit  in  his  country  store, 
which  was  the  only  one  for  ten  miles  around,  and  he 
discounted  notes  at  thirty-six  per  cent,  per  annum  be- 
fore usury  laws  were  enacted,  and  became  the  richest 
man  in  the  county.  Now  things  were  all  changed  and 
competition  was  so  great  that  it  was  hard  for  a  be- 
ginner to  make  expenses. 


2IO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

"  Now  let  us  apply  this  to  England.  She  was  first 
in  modern  trade  and  was  smarter  in  making  money 
than  all  the  rest  of  Europe  put  together,  and  was  the 
only  first-class  national  industrial  beehive  in  the  whole 
world.  She  managed  to  get  all  the  nations  of  Europe 
into  quarrels  with  the  great  Napoleon,  and  in  propor- 
tion to  her  population  she  sent  a  precious  few  of  her 
own  citizens  as  soldiers  to  be  shot  down,  but  encour- 
aged the  other  nations  to  'put  up'  the  men  and  she 
'  put  up'  the  money — by  loaning  it  to  them;  and  while 
all  the  men  of  the  other  nations  were  fighting  and 
being  killed  off,  she  kept  the  great  majority  of  her  sons 
at  home  and  taught  them  to  be  smart  artisans,  and  al- 
most every  man  in  her  realm  became  a  mechanic  or 
producer  of  some  kind.  Her  merchants  and  manufac- 
turers became  the  smartest  and  most  far-seeing  busi- 
ness men  of  the  world.  The  secret  of  their  great  for- 
tunes was  their  ability  to  know  how  to  make  a  dollar 
and  save  85  cents  of  it;  and  they  built  their  own  ships, 
sending  them  to  all  parts  of  the  earth,  and  loaded 
down  every  nation  that  they  could  intimidate  with  all 
the  goods  they  could  pack  into  their  warehouses. 
They  charged  them  three  prices  for  everything  and 
told;J:M|m  to  pay  for  it  when  they  were  able,  and  thus 
they'gpt  all  the  earth  in  easy  financial  relations  with 
.  her,  and  then  it  was  not  long  before  everything  began 
to  come  her  way. 

"  That  is  how  Englishmen  got  the  start  of  the  rest 
of  the  world  in  business,  and  they  deserve  credit  for 
it.  They  have  been  the  great  '  bunco  steerers'  of  the 
world.  Uncle  Sam  was  at  one  time  a  '  hayseed'  from 
the  rural  districts,  and  there  are  plenty  of  respectable 
men  in  the  United  States  to-day  who  for  the  sake  of 
carrying  out  a  free-trade  theory  would  have  us  still 
keep  on  in  the  old  way  and  be  confidence  victims. 
What  England  does  not  know  about  getting  the  best 


PROTECTION.  211 

of  a  bargain  can  be  written  down  on  the  fly-leaf  of  a 
very  small  Testament;  and  if  the  United  States  wants 
to  compete  with  her,  then  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price 
of  our  business  advancement. 

"  England  is  the  most  progressive  and  aggressive 
nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth  to-day.  The  whole 
world  is  paying  tribute  and  pouring  interest  money 
into  her  lap  every  second,  both  night  and  day,  of  the 
whole  solar  year,  and,  like  the  rich  banker,  she  need 
never  do  another  stitch  of  work  if  she  does  not  want 
to,  but  could  comfortably  live  on  her  income.  And 
must  we  as  a  nation,  who  have  more  land  to  develop 
and  cannot  live  on  incomes,  close  up  our  factories  and 
give  her  our  trade  and  send  our  skilled  workmen  out 
on  farms  to  raise  wheat?  They  know  nothing  about 
farming. 

"  How  did  England  secure  all  her  financial  great- 
ness? Was  it  fair  and  honorable?  Yes,  it  was  fair  and 
square  in  every  respect ;  she  had  a  genius  for  business 
and  was  first  in  the  modern  field  and  is  '  on  top.'  But 
was  she  always  a  free  trader?  No,  she  was  not.  When 
the  Napoleonic  wars  had  piled  upon  her  a  colossal 
national  debt,  she  had  to  raise  money  to  pay  her  in- 
terest and  she  put  '  protection'  on  with  a  vengeance, 
and  kept  it  there  until  her  machine-shops  and  ship- 
yards and  textile-fabric  mills,  and  a  thousand  other 
establishments  were  built  and  paid  for  over  and  over 
again  with  profits.  At  the  same  time,  the  men,  women, 
and  children  grew  to  be  expert,  trained,  and  skilful 
laborers,  and  they  got  the  science  of  manufacturing 
goods  down  so  fine  and  made  goods  so  cheap  and  per- 
fect that  no  nation  could  compete  with  her.  Then  she 
said  '  Eureka'  and  took  off  her  tariff,  and  declared  free 
trade  to  be  the  consummation  of  all  the  Christian  vir- 
tues, and  she  has  been  preaching  it  ever  since  and 
sending  envoys  and  literature  into  every  land,  to  in- 


212  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

struct  the  world  on  the  subject,  so  that  other  nations 
would  not  establish  a  tariff  system  that  would  exclude 
her  manufactures.  This  is  history. 

"  Now  comes  the  moral  of  the  small  retail  merchant 
and  the  millionaire  banker  in  the  aforementioned  vil- 
lage. When  the  United  States  had  her  great  Civil 
War,  she,  like  England,  had  to  devise  a  plan  to  pay 
interest,  and  she  put  on  a  protective  duty  to  raise 
money  and  also  to  foster  •  manufacturing.  England 
looked  on  with  a  smile  at  the  idea  of  our  little  country 
going  into  the  factory  business.  We  had  at  the  time 
a  nucleus  of  workshops,  but,  like  the  green  peach,  it 
'  grew  and  grew'  under  the  new  protection,  and  in  a 
few  years  England  was  astonished  at  our  great  awak- 
ening. 

"  For  eighty  years  from  the  commencement  of  our 
government  in  the  previous  century  down  to  1861, 
only  thirty  thousand  patents  had  been  issued  in  the 
United  States  Patent  Office,  but  in  the  next  twenty 
years  invention  increased  so  marvellously  that  over 
two  hundred  thousand  patents  were  issued.  Every 
branch  of  business  in  the  United  States  was  electrified, 
and  the  quality  and  volume  of  our  capacity  for  pro- 
duction startled  not  only  England,  but  all  Europe.  It 
was  then  that  American  college-bred  editors  who  were 
not  practical  business  men,  but  who  had  free-trade 
theories  that  were  unquestionably  correct,  but  not 
diplomatic,  threw  our  nation  into  great  contention 
over  the  subject  of  protection.  The  Republicans 
triumphed  in  the  elections,  but  were  continually 
harassed  by  the  Democratic  free  traders;  yet  the  na- 
tion prospered  and  prospered,  and  grew  richer  and 
richer,  and  more  powerful  and  respected  abroad.  But 
a  day  of  disaster  came  to  the  country;  a  wave  of  busi- 
ness depression  swept  over  our  land.  The  same  wave 
of  depression  swept  over  the  whole  world. 

"  In  our  country  the  cause  of  the  widespread  hard 


PROTECTION.  213 

times  was  not  protection  or  duties  or  tariff,  but  prin- 
cipally the  extravagance  and  speculations  of  the  peo- 
ple who  had  spent  money  and  had  gone  into  debt  be- 
yond their  means,  and  the  consequent  lack  of  confi- 
dence in  the  business  world.  Such  business  disasters 
might  occur  in  any  nation,  and  have  repeated  them- 
selves time  and  time  again  in  the  past  when  specula- 
tion and  extravagance  were  rampant.  But  the  Demo- 
crats, who  had  not  been  in  power  and  were  hungering 
for  it,  took  advantage  of  the  depression  and  distress 
of  the  nation,  and  raised  the  hue  and  cry  that  it  was 
protection  that  caused  all  the  trouble,  and  that  every- 
thing would  be  righted  and  every  poor  man  would 
grow  rich  if  he  would  only  vote  for  free  trade  and  the 
Democratic  Party.  And  the  unemployed  and  down- 
hearted people  believed  them  and  rose,  as  a  mighty 
tidal  wave,  and  swept  the  Republicans  so  completely 
out  of  office  that  they  did  not  know  for  a  time  what 
had  struck  them.  But  the  mills  of  the  gods  grind  slowly 
and  surely  and  exceedingly  fine,  for  when  the  Demo- 
crats found  themselves  in  power,  they  took  off  the 
duties,  and  then  things  went  from  bad  to  worse,  and 
the  people  were  puzzled,  and  they  will  ever  be  puzzled 
until  they  find  out  that  the  hard  times  are  not  occa- 
sioned by  protection,  and  that  they  had  better  leave  the 
tariff  alone,  and  not  live  beyond  their  means,  not  go 
into  debt  beyond  what  they  can  pay,  and  not  manu- 
facture goods  that  no  one  wants,  or  more  goods  than 
they  can  sell.  When  that  time  comes  we  will  have 
stability  and  '  good  times.' 

"  I  did  not  intend  to  bring  in  the  name  of  the 
Democratic  Party,  as  I  want  to  cast  no  reflections,  but 
how  can  I  do  otherwise?  I  am  young  and  unpreju- 
diced and  have  read  between  the  lines.  What  has  the 
Democratic  Party  clone  for  our  nation?  It  has  been  a 
stumbling-block  to  national  prosperity  from  the  date 
of  its  foundation.  If  we  review  history  and  look  back- 


214  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

ward  at  the  great  national  issues  since  our  Republic 
was  founded,  we  cannot  see  a  single  grand  principle 
on  which  the  Democratic  Party  was  on  the  right  side. 
It  fought  the  Homestead  Law,  that  eventually  built 
up  the  great  West.  It  fought  tooth  and  nail  the  build- 
ing of  the  Erie  Canal,  that  proved  the  greatest  of  all 
our  early  commercial  undertakings. 

"  The  Democratic  Party  has  opposed  all  legislation 
that  is  favorable  to  the  laboring  man,  for  nine-tenths 
of  the  acts  of  the  legislature  that  benefit  the  working 
people  were  introduced  by  and  the  laws  were  passed 
by  the  Republican  Party.  This  is  a  fact  on  record. 
The  only  thing  the  Democratic  Party  has  ever  done 
for  the  laboring  men  is,  at  election  times,  to  get  them 
on  the  street  corners  and  '  jolly'  them  with  demagogic 
speeches,  with  promises  of  great  things,  to  get  their 
votes,  and  afterward  do  nothing  for  them  at  all.  And 
yet  many  workmen,  year  after  year,  will  keep  on  going 
to  the  polls  and  voting  against  the  Republican  Party, 
which  has  passed  almost  every  law  that  has  ever 
brought  them  any  relief.  Such  people  do  not  deserve 
to  live  in  America;  they  ought  to  go  out  and  jump  on 
themselves  or  live  in  some  other  land  until  they  can 
get  some  common  sense. 

"  And  the  Democratic  Party  fought  eighty  years  for 
slavery,  and  for  State  rights  to  prevent  our  being 
firmly  cemented  as  a  nation.  In  all  of  these  things 
they  have  failed  to  carry  their  point,  and  it  is  still 
identified  with  the  free  traders,  who  would  close  up 
our  infant  industries  and  let  our  workmen  go  without 
their  Saturday-night  wages. 

"  The  Democratic  Party  is  now  arrayed  against  sub- 
sidies, such  as  has  built  up  England's  great  com- 
merce, and  against  the  Nicaragua  Canal  project,  that 
means  so  much  to  our  national  future;  it  was  in  arms 
against  Hawaiian  annexation;  and  the  large  majority 
of  the  Democrats  are  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  sound- 


PROTECTION.  215 

money  question,  and  if  you  advance  the  subject  of 
'  centralization'  to  a  Democrat  of  high  degree,  it  will 
send  him  almost  into  a  fit. 

"  But  during  the  whole  thirty  years  since  we  have 
inaugurated  American  protection,  England  has 
looked  jealously  upon  the  wonderful  manufacturing 
development  of  America,  and  now  she  sees  our  cutlery 
sold  in  Sheffield,  our  locomotives  in  Manchester  and 
China,  and  our  railroad  iron  sold  all  over  the  world, 
and  she  also  sees  in  us  a  rival,  and  not  a  little  retail 
dealer  humble  in  the  presence  of  a  millionaire  banker. 

"  Give  us  a  few  more  years  of  protection,  and  then 
we,  like  England,  can  open  wide  our  doors  and  also 
preach  free  trade  to' the  nations. 

"  But  England,  as  well  as  ourselves,  will  soon  have 
her  hands  full  in  another  direction.  England,  as  well 
as  Europe  and  America,  will  have  the  cheap  labor  of 
Asia  to  encounter.  India  is  under  England's  rule, 
and  can  be  controlled.  China  is  still  asleep,  but  Japan 
is  just  getting  her  eyes  wide  open,  and  it  may  be  pos- 
sible that  England  will  yet  have  to  protect  with  a  tariff 
her  own  industries  against  the  Asiatics.  England  is 
smart  at  intrigue,  and  we  must  wait  and  see  what  her 
diplomacy  can  accomplish,  and  we  must  join  her  in  it. 
England  is  wise  in  trade  and  finance;  we  need  not  be 
ashamed  or  too  proud  to  go  and  ask  for  advice,  or 
advise  with  her.  We  will  have  to  get  up  very  early  in 
the  morning  if  we  are  to  keep  even  with  England. 
Please  bear  this  in  mind  and  do  not  forget  it. 

"  To  a  patriotic  citizen  who  does  not  consider  a 
theory  of  more  importance  than  prosperity,  there 
should  be  no  dispute  over  the  policy  of  protection; 
it  is  absolutely  necessary,  in  the  present  state  of  in- 
ternational society  and  our  own  government  finances, 
to  continue  it.  The  Democratic  free  traders  should 
turn  from  arguing  theories  to  consider  the  subject  of 
'  what  it  is  best  not  to  protect?' 


2l6  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

"  The  part  of  patriotism  for  both  Republicans  and 
Democrats  should  be  a  rivalry  to  discover  who  are 
far-seeing  enough  to  discriminate  what  industries  do 
and  what  do  not  need  protection,  or,  in  other  words, 
what  goods  for  our  national  commercial  progress 
should  be  admitted  free;  and  then  put  a  duty  on  all 
the  rest  of  the  list  sufficiently  high  to  insure  the  plac- 
ing of  all  orders  for  manufactured  goods  within  the 
boundaries  of  our  own  nation. 

"  There  are  some  things  made  and  raised  in  Amer- 
ica that  foreigners  need  and  must  have  from  us,  just 
as  we  want  tea  and  coffee,  drugs,  etc.,  from  abroad,  so 
we  never  need  fear  a  tariff  on  their  part  against  us  on 
such  articles,  and  they  amount  to  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  Europeans  may  place  duties  on 
other  things  against  us,  but  as  they  have  that  right  we 
must  submit  to  it  gracefully,  and  depend  on  our  own 
inventive  talent  and  superior  workmanship  to  turn 
out  goods  that  foreigners  will  order  from  us  in  spite 
of  their  own  duties,  the  same  as  some  of  our  citizens 
who  have  abundance  of  money  insist  on  importing 
from  Europe  goods  that  please  them,  in  spite  of  our 
high  tariff. 

"  The  free  traders  and  protectionists  should  join 
together  in  adopting  a  different  system  of  common 
school  education.  What  we  want  is  more  technical 
schooling.  Each  school  boy  and  girl  from  the  young- 
est to  the  oldest  in  our  common  schools  should  devote 
only  the  mornings  to  reading,  writing,  arithmetic, 
mathematics,  grammar,  and  language,  and  the  after- 
noons should  be  devoted  entirely  to  instruction  in 
mechanics  and  the  study  of  nature. 

"  Every  child  when  he  or  she  reaches  the  age  of 
twelve  should  know  more  than  the  vast  majority  of 
men  and  women  of  the  present  day  do  about  the  earth 
and  air  and  water  out  of  which  comes  everything  we 
eat,  wear,  or  use. 


PROTECTION.  217 

"  Much  is  crowded  into  the  heads  of  school  children, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  botany  and  insects,  trees 
and  animals,  rocks  and  vapors,  tools  and  construc- 
tion, anatomy  and  hygiene,  and  all  kindred  things  of 
far-reaching  importance  in  the  every-day  experience 
of  life,  should  not  take  possession  of  the  youthful 
brain  cells,  and  occupy  at  least  half  of  the  study  hours 
of  children,  the  majority  of  whom  leave  school  by 
the  time  they  are  twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age. 

"  Such  a  plan  of  education  would  enable  thought- 
less and  non-studious  children  to  grow  up  to  be  men 
and  women  with  better  ideas  of  what  is  around  them 
in  every-day  life;  it  would  teach  them  the  '  why'  of 
things,  and  how  to  advance  the  value  of  things  and 
make  money  for  themselves  out  of  nature.  It  would 
bring  them  both  pleasure  and  understanding  in  their 
environment,  and  would  be  of  great  value  to  a  manu- 
facturing nation  that  wishes  to  rank  among  the  first 
in  the  coming  centuries. 

"  The  platform  of  all  parties  in  America  should  be 
drafted  with  a  protection  plank,  or,  in  other  words, 
we  should  look  out  for  ourselves  as  a  nation. 

"  I  admit  that  such  a  platform  is  not  as  broad 
or  manly  as  modern  progress  would  dictate.  I  will 
admit  that  it  is  in  the  direction  of  narrowness  and 
will  be  so  considered,  should  it  be  held  up  to  the 
gaze  of  future  generations  who  will  have  learned  of 
the  '  Brotherhood  of  Man' ;  that  is  to  say,  they  will 
judge  it  so  from  a  humanitarian  point  of  view,  though 
not  from  results,  as  they  will  have  been  benefited  by* 
the  means  the  protectionists  took  to  uphold  them- 
selves. 

"  It  is  not  a  virtue  for  a  millionaire  who  has  plenty 
to  spare  to  be  generous.  The  virtue  in  generosity  is 
in  giving,  not  from  one's  abundance,  but  from  one's 
need ;  and  when  England  is  held  up  to  the  world  as  an 
example  of  progress  in  free  trade,  she  should  not  have 


2l8  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

the  credit  that  her  admirers  suggest,  because  she  has 
now  advanced  to  that  position  of  national  prosperity 
and  commercial  independence  where  she  can  afford 
free  trade  without  feeling  it.  That  is  just  the  position 
that  America  wants  to  be  in,  and  if  she  has  the  chance 
given  her  in  the  line  of  protection,  she  then,  in  time, 
can  and  will  also  be  commercially  noble,  for  free  trade 
is  noble,  but  not  a  diplomatic  thing  for  the  under 
nations. 

"So  in  conclusion  I  will  say  that  free  trade  is  all 
right  in  principle,  but  wrong  in  a  diplomatic  or  self- 
protecting  sense.  Free  trade  is  ahead  of  its  day.  It  is 
the  golden  rule  of  commerce,  but  our  true  motto  in 
this  selfish  age  should  be,  '  Live  and  help  others  to 
live.'  But  as  charity  begins  at  home,  we  should  first 
give  our  own  mechanics  and  our  own  farmers  a  pro- 
tected chance  to  earn  a  living,  and  an  opportunity  to 
rise,  if  they  have  business  genius,  out  of  the  ranks  of 
the  laborers  to  the  commanding  position  of  those  rich 
men  and  millionaires  of  to-day  who  but  a  few  years 
ago  were  poor  like  almost  all  the  rest  of  us. 

"  It  is  the  same  in  professional  life,  where  the  great 
majority  of  doctors,  lawyers,  and  ministers  are  strug- 
gling and  piling  on  top  of  one  another  at  the  foot  of 
the  ladder,  seeking  a  competence  and  fame;  but  very 
few  have  the  ability  to  climb  to  the  upper  rounds. 

"  It  is  our  privilege  to  get  rich  if  we  are  of  a  saving 
disposition  and  have  genius  for  business.-  Almost 
every  one  sadly  flatters  himself  that  he  has  business 
genius,  and  the  ninety  and  nine  unfortunate  ones  out 
of  a  hundred  who  fail  will  never  get  that  disastrous 
conceit  out  of  their  heads  until  they  are  in  heaven  and 
look  back  at  their  failures,  and  then  they  will  say  of 
their  earthly  business  or  fame-seeking  experience, 
'  What  conceited,  unreasonable,  mistaken,  stubborn 
fools  we  mortals  were!'  And  if  from  heaven  they 
should  be  allowed  an  opportunity  to  return  to  earth 


PROTECTION.  219 

they  would  only  be  too  glad  to  be  humble  and  occupy 
an  under  position  rather  than  repeat  their  former  am- 
bitions, diggings,  climbings,  worryings,  and  heart 
disappointments  that  came  to  nothing  in  the  end  and 
were  worse  than  moonshine." 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

BUSINESS    QUARRELS. 

ON  the  evening  of  June  30  Ed  called  at  seven 
o'clock  and  found  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  sitting 
on  the  front  fence,  trying  to  keep  cool.  A  hot  wave 
had  swept  down  over  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  all  thought 
of  flying  kites  had  vanished  from  the  minds  of  the 
average  small  boy.  It  was  even  too  warm  to  think 
of  fire-crackers  and  Roman  candles,  and  the  manufac- 
turers of  pyrotechnics  were  becoming  alarmed  for  fear 
the  heat  would  quell  the  pent-up  Fourth-of-July 
patriotism  that  for  thirty  or  forty  days  had  been  gath- 
ering and  bubbling  in  the  breasts  of  "Young America." 

The  kite  firm  had  been  so  busy  and  successful  and 
had  made  so  much  money  that  the  original  object  of 
the  formation  of  the  partnership  had  entirely  passed 
from  Micky's  mind;  but  Fred  had  not  forgotten  it, 
and  brought  the  subject  up,  and  called  his  partner's 
attention  to  the  fact  that  $3.80  was  to  be  spent  in  a 
few  days  in  having  a  good  time.  Micky  wanted  to 
know  what  for,  and  was  reminded  of  the  conversation 
on  the  morning  they  first  went  into  business,,  and  Fred 
drew  out  of  his  pocket  the  original  memorandum  in 


BUSINESS  QUARRELS.  221 

Micky's  own  handwriting,  whereon  was  itemized  $3.80 
worth  of  fireworks ;  this  sum  and  the  combustibles 
furnished  the  financial  basis  and  patriotic  impulses  for 
the  kite  enterprise. 

Micky  read  the  paper  over  three  or  four  times  in 
silent  thoughtfulness,  and  at  last  with  a  scowl  said : 
"  What  is  the  use  of  throwing  away  money  like  that?" 
and  suggested  that  they  do  nothing  of  the  kind,  but 
save  their  money.  This  conclusion  on  Micky's  part 
was  too  much  for  Fred  to  stand,  and  for  the  first  time 
in  almost  three  months  a  quarrel  ensued  between  the 
two  partners,  and  the  firm  came  near  going  to  pieces. 

Fred  called  Micky  a  stingy  old  miser,  and  wanted 
nothing  more  to  do  with  him,  and  asked  him  to  wind 
up  the  partnership,  divide  up  the  money,  and  play 
"  quits." 

Not  a  cent  had  been  drawn  out  of  the  firm  by  either 
of  them  since  they  started.  Every  time  Fred  suggested 
such  a  thing  Micky  talked  him  out  of  it,  and  he  had 
meekly  submitted,  hoping  when  July  I  came  around 
it  would  then  be  all  right ;  but  that  date  had  now  ar- 
rived, and  Micky  still  wanted  to  spend  nothing,  not 
even  for  Fourth-of-July  fun,  and  Fred  would  not 
stand  it  any  longer. 

He  was  boisterously  mad,  but  Micky  kept  even  tem- 
pered for  a  long  time,  coaxing  Fred  not  to  get  so 
angry,  but  to  listen  to  reason.  Had  they  not  agreed 
to  get  rich  together  and  own  a  store,  and  by  and  by 
be  wholesale  merchants  and  own  horses  and  carts  and 
wagons  and  all  such  things?  And  if  they  fooled  away 
their  money  in  "  firework-truck"  on  Fourth-of-July 
day,  they  would  soon  fool  away  more  money  in  picnics 
and  excursions  and  all  such  nonsense.  If  he  (Fred) 
had  any  sense,  he  would  save  his  money  while  he  had 
the  chance ;  for  he  must  not  think  their  mothers  would 
keep  them  for  nothing  all  their  lives  and  charge  them 
no  board  and  pay  for  their  clothes,  giving  them  a  cellar 


222  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

free  of  rent,  and  all  the  time  take  in  washing  to  sup- 
port them  and  work  harder  than  men.  If  Fred  wanted 
to  divide  up  and  quit,  he  had  better  give  the  money 
to  his  mother,  who  needed  it  more  than  he  did  to  fool 
away  in  smoke  and  noise. 

Fred  replied  that  he  did  not  want  any  more  of  his 
"gas"  about  the  saving  "rackit;"  his  share  of  the 
money  belonged  to  him,  and  he  would  do  what  he 
pleased  with  it. 

One  word  led  on  to  another  until  it  came  to  blows, 
and  Fred  was  getting  the  worst  of  it,  when  Sally  came 
bounding  out  of  the  house  and  tried  to  pull  Micky  off 
of  Fred,  who  was  down  on  his  back.  Sally  pulled  and 
hauled  at  her  brother  and  screamed  and  scolded,  and 
then  burst  into  tears,  which  brought  the  boys  to  their 
senses  and  their  feet. 

Ed  sat  on  the  fence  quietly  and  unmoved  during  the 
whole  fuss,  and  never  interfered  or  opened  his  mouth ; 
and  when  Sally  recovered  from  her  crying  she  turned 
to  upbraid  him  for  not  having  stopped  the  fight. 

During  the  three  months  of  the  partnership  she  had 
gradually  grown  into  a  feeling  of  proprietorship  of  the 
whole  business.  She  certainly  could  not  have  been 
more  interested  if  there  had  been  $1,000,000  at  stake. 
She  loved  her  brother  a  hundred  times  better  than  ever 
before.  His  sudden  transformation  from  an  untidy, 
barefooted  street  boy  and  ignoramus  at  school  into 
a  well-dressed  little  fellow  at  the  head  of  his  class  had 
made  her  the  proudest  girl  in  Bucktown.  She  would 
tie  his  cravat,  dust  his  coat,  and  kiss  him  and  compli- 
ment him  until  he  saw  by  contrast  with  his  previous 
life  that  it  really  paid  to  be  decent ;  and  little  by  little 
he  developed  a  fondness  for  his  sister  and  fell  into  an 
appreciation  of  her  attentions.  She  was  devoted  to 
their  kite  business,  and  was  very  anxious  to  see  the 
boys  make  and  save  their  money ;  and  she  had  almost 
a  miser's  joy  in  gold  every  time  she  deposited  an  addi- 


BUSINESS  QUARRELS.  22$ 

tional  $10  in  the  savings  bank.  Every  day  she  re- 
minded them  how  the  sum  was  increasing;  and  that 
very  evening  she  told  them  she  had  been  figuring  it 
up  and  found  there  would  be  fifty-two  cents,  in  interest 
alone,  due  them  by  the  savings  bank  on  July  i,  which 
was  more  than  six  times  the  amount  of  capital  they  had 
at  the  commencement. 

She  watched  the  growing  friendship  of  the  partners, 
and  contrasted  it  with  the  daily  quarrels  the  two  boys 
used  to  have  before  they  went  into  business.  Almost 
three  months  had  passed  without  a  fuss,  and  it  made 
her  happy.  The  thought  of  it  came  to  her  that  very 
afternoon,  and  it  was  while  she  was  at  work  on  their 
accounts  and  full  of  joy  over  the  large  sum  of  money 
they  had  made  that  she  heard  the  quarrelling  and  saw 
the  blows.  At  first  she  could  hardly  believe  her  eyes, 
but  in  a  minute  her  ambition  and  girl's  pride  and  happy 
heart  had  the  worst  tumble  of  her  life.  In  her  haste 
to  reach  them  she  dropped  everything  in  her  hands 
on  the  floor,  upset  the  table  and  ink  bottle,  fell  over 
a  chair,  and  when  she  reached  the  door  gave  one  bound 
to  the  prostrate  boys. 

She  had  never  particularly  liked  Fred  before  the 
kite-business  days,  but  she  had  begun  to  feel  friendly 
to  him,  and  was  real  glad  that  Micky  had  such  a  smart 
fellow  at  figures  and  such  a  good  penman  for  a  part- 
ner; but  words  could  not  express  her  grief  that  the 
boys  had  broken  the  record  and  were  fighting.  Her 
sorrow  turned  into  indignation,  and  not  having  any 
one  else  at  hand  upon  whom  to  vent  her  anger,  she 
turned  on  Ed,  and  between  her  renewed  sobs  scolded 
him  for  not  having  prevented  the  fight. 

Ed  thought  Sally  was  a  "  peach,"  and  no  girl  in  the 
world  was  ahead  of  her  in  his  admiration.  Sally  had 
the  same  feeling  for  Ed,  and  had  never  said  or  even 
remotely  suggested  a  cross  word  to  him;  but  now  she 
"  gave  it  to  him"  with  a  vengeance,  and  as  her  sobs 


224  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

decreased  her  scolding  increased,  until  Ed  was  a  lonely 
pillar  of  astonishment. 

Sally's  tirade  against  Ed  completely  quieted  the 
anger  of  the  fighters,  and  by  the  time  she  was  through 
the  boys  forgot  their  grievances  in  their  anxiety  for 
and  interest  in  Ed,  who  sat  on  the  fence  unmoved  and 
solemn  as  a  funeral. 

When  she  was  through,  Ed,  without  moving  from 
the  fence  or  changing  a  muscle,  said  that  he  certainly 
did  not  like  to  see  fighting  going  on  in  any  form,  and 
he  especially  deplored  the  mildest  kind  of  warfare 
between  Micky  and  Fred.  He  reminded  Sally  that  he 
was  not  a  policeman  or  magistrate,  and  did  not  feel 
that  he  was  legally  or  physically  bound  or  empowered 
or  called  upon  to  keep  the  peace.  He  also  stated  that 
he  was  not  aware  that  he  was  even  in  the  Sunday- 
school  business;  and,  consequently,  did  not  deem  that 
he  was  called  upon  to  discourse  on  the  moral  law  or 
expound  the  Ten  Commandments.  He  was  simply 
a  lawyer,  and  was  ever  ready  to  give  advice  when 
called  upon ;  but  in  this  case  before  them  he  had  not 
even  been  consulted  regarding  the  matter  in  dispute. 
In  fact,  he  had  been  blankly  ignored.  If  any  one  had 
a  grievance  it  was  himself.  Was  he  not  the  lawyer 
for  the  firm?  Had  he  not  for  three  months  done 
everything  in  his  power  to  further  peace  and  harmony? 
Had  they  not  insulted  the  great  law  firm  of  Lincoln, 
Seward  &  Evarts  by  such  conduct  in  his  presence? 
Was  he  not  there  as  a  lawyer  to  give  advice  and  pre- 
vent trouble,  and  had  they  not  ignominiously  insulted 
the  representative  of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  by 
ignoring  his  presence  and  resorting  to  unlawful  meth- 
ods of  settling  disputes,  thus  casting  contempt  on  a 
lawyer's  implied  abilities?  Did  they  think  they  were 
fighting  in  his  presence  only?  Were  they  not  aware 
that  although  he  was  only  a  humble  representative  of 
the  great  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts,  when  they 


BUSINESS  QUARRELS.  225 

fought  before  him  they  were  disgracing  themselves  as 
much  as  if  in  the  actual  presence  of  the  distinguished 
members  of  his  firm  ?  Were  they  aware  that  the  insult 
was  not  to  him,  but  to  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts? 
Were  they  aware  that  unless  an  apology  was  imme- 
diately offered,  he  should  feel  it  incumbent  on  him  at 
once  to  leave  their  presence,  and  in  the  name  of  Lin- 
coln, Seward  &  Evarts  .cease  all  connection  with  them 
as  legal  adviser? 

During  this  answer  Ed  warmed  up  to  the  occasion 
and  was  actually  indignant,  and  when  he  finished  a 
silence  ensued;  and  since  no  apology  seemed  to  be 
forthcoming,  he  came  down  off  the  fence  and  walked 
away,  leaving  all  of  them  in  a  perplexed,  astonished, 
and  unhappy  frame  of  mind. 

Not  a  word  was  spoken  by  them,  and  they  felt  as  if 
the  end  of  all  things  had  come,  and  concluded  that 
they  actually  had  committed  some  grave  offence 
against  the  great  law  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts.  Their  anger  turned  to  shame.  Sally  again 
burst  into  tears  and  ran  into  the  house.  Micky,  with- 
out saying  another  word  to  Fred,  followed  her;  and 
Fred,  after  standing  alone  for  a  few  minutes,  walked 
homeward  with  his  head  hanging  down,  feeling  like  a 
criminal. 

Sally  locked  herself  in  her  room  and  sobbed  aloud, 
and  Micky  tried  to  get  in  to  talk  with  her  and  explain 
things,  but  she  would  not  answer  him,  and  cried  louder 
than  ever;  so  he  went  out  on  the  steps  to  wait  for  his 
mother,  who  had  not  yet  returned  from  her  daily  toil. 
He  sat  there  in  a  most  despondent  mood  for  half  an 
hour ;  and  as  his  mother  did  not  put  in  an  appearance, 
and  as  the  heat  was  becoming  more  oppressive,  he 
concluded  to  go  up  to  the  canal  at  the  "  elbow,"  near 
Twelfth  Street,  and  take  a  swim.  He  found  a  great 
crowd  of  boys  there  waiting  for  the  darkness  to  come, 
as  the  policemen  forbade  bathing  until  after  8  P.M. 


226  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

Micky  climbed  on  top  of  a  twenty-foot  pile  of  loose 
lumber  that  had  been  carelessly  unloaded  from  a  canal- 
boat,  and  sat  there  with  a  dozen  or  fifteen  other  boys 
who  were  also  waiting  for  a  swim.  In  about  ten 
minutes  Fred  came  along  and  mounted  the  other  end 
of  the  same  lumber  pile,  but  did  not  speak  to  Micky. 
Both  boys  sat  silent  and  glum,  while  the  rest  of  the 
urchins  were  merry  and  had  a  good  time  yelling  and 
laughing  and  rocking  the  high  pile  of  lumber  backward 
and  forward  in  a  most  dangerous  manner,  until  all  of 
a  sudden  the  whole  mass  of  boards  with  a  lurch  and 
a  slide  came  tumbling  down  with  a  crashing  noise, 
immediately  followed  by  the  screams  and  cries  of  the 
many  boys  who  were  buried  and  mixed  up  in  the  gen- 
eral jumble. 

It  is  ever  a  puzzling  question  to  know  where  all  the 
boys  come  from  who  gather  in  a  moment's  time  at 
a  place  of  excitement ;  and  on  this  occasion  it  seemed 
as  if  the  noise  of  the  fallen  pile  had  hardly  died  away 
when  a  thousand  urchins  from  all  along  the  canal  bank 
were  on  the  spot,  pulling  off  the  boards  and  extricating 
the  unfortunate  victims. 

.  Most  of  the  boys  escaped  with  only  a  scare  and  a 
few  scratches.  Some  were  bleeding  and  limping 
around  with  sprained  ankles  and  bruised  bodies,  and 
the  only  two  who  were  really  injured  were  Micky  and 
Fred.  Micky  was  taken  out  for  dead  and  laid  on  the 
sidewalk,  and  Fred  had  a  broken  arm.  Both  boys  were 
placed  on  boards  and  carried  to  the  hospital,  three 
squares  distant.  A  few  of  the  crowd  loitered  around 
the  hospital  door,  but  most  of  the  throng  forgot  the 
occurrence  as  one  of  the  passing  events,  and  when  the 
darkness  came  had  their  merry  swim,  little  dreaming 
that  the  two  injured  "  kids,"  as  they  called  them,  at 
a  future  day  would  be  their  employers  and  benefactors. 

It  is  a  happy  condition  of  affairs  that  the  future 
greatness  of  children  is  unknown,  because  they  would 


BUSINESS  QUARRELS.  227 

be  spoiled  by  over-attention,  and  would  not  be  allowed 
to  work  out  their  own  destinies,  and  so  in  the  hospital 
Micky  and  Fred  were  looked  after  in  the  ordinary 
manner  of  every-day  unfortunates ;  and  in  accordance 
with  the  rules  of  the  place,  Mrs.  Flynn,  Mrs.  Schmidt, 
and  Sally  were  denied  admission  and  -received  no  satis- 
faction as  to  the  condition  of  the  boys,  except  that  they 
were  both  alive  and  were  being  properly  attended  to 
by  the  surgeons.  The  distracted  mothers  went  home 
and  spent  a  sleepless  night  berating  the  cruel  rules  that 
kept  mothers  from  their  dying  or  injured  children. 

Sally  in  a  profusion  of  tears  carried  the  news  down 
to  Ed.  When  he  saw  her  he  thought  she  was  approach- 
ing with  a  flag  of  truce,  and  he  put  on  his  entire  store 
of  professional  dignity,  intending  to  uphold  the  stand- 
ard of  his  illustrious  employers,  Messrs.  Lincoln, 
Seward  &  Evarts ;  but  when  she  made  known  the  cause 
of  her  distress  and  the  condition  of  Micky  and  Fred, 
he  came  right  down  from  his  lofty  height,  took  out 
his  handkerchief,  tenderly  wiped  away  Sally's  tears, 
and  with  a  coaxing,  patronizing  voice  and  professional 
smile,  as  if  it  were  a  royal  panacea  for  every  case  of 
accident,  said :  "  Never  mind,  Sally,  cease  your  crying, 
we'll  get  '  damages.'  It's  a  grand  case  for  '  damages ;' 
you  just  go  home,  and  I  will  start  out  and  gather  evi- 
dence." 

Sally  did  not  know  what  "  damages"  meant,  but  Ed 
was  so  buoyant  on  the  subject  that  he  made  her  feel 
better  and  lifted  a  load  from  her  mind;  and  she  re- 
turned and  told  her  mother  that  it  was  all  right  now, 
for  Ed  was  going  out  to  get  "  damages." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

ECONOMY. 

MICKY  and  Fred  recovered  sooner  than  the  doctors 
anticipated,  and  in  three  weeks'  time  were  allowed  to 
go  home. 

Micky  had  been  a  mass  of  cuts,  bruises,  and  contu- 
sions, and  at  first  presented  the  appearance  of  one  who 
had  been  run  through  a  dull  hash-chopping  machine ; 
fortunately,  no  bones  were  broken,  and  he  was  a  very 
thankful  boy  when  he  realized  his  narrow  escape. 

Fred  was  not  so  lucky,  for  added  to  his  numerous 
bruises  was  a  broken  left  arm  and  a  very  bad  scalp 
wound. 

Their  wails  and  cries  were  so  pitiful  the  first  few 
days  that  separate  wards  were  given  them  for  a  week, 
when  they  were  assigned  to  one  room,  and  their 
mothers  and  friends  were  allowed  to  visit  them. 

The  next  two  weeks,  alone  in  that  one  room  night 
and  day,  was  a  memorable  period  in  the  history  of 
those  two  boys.  It  was  a  lovely  "  make-up"  from  the 
very  start,  and  their  mutual  apologies  and  forgiveness 
made  a  scene  for  a  Sunday-school  book. 

Those  days  of  fellowship  in  misery  cemented  their 
friendship  and  interests  in  a  manner  apparently  de- 


ECONOMY.  229 

signed  by  Providence.  They  talked  over  money  and 
business,  past  and  to  come,  and  laid  prodigious  plans 
for  a  wonderful  gigantic  kite  business  for  the  next 
season.  The  greatest  good  that  came  out  of  the  whole 
hospital  experience  was  that  Fred  was  completely  con- 
verted to  Micky's  plans  of  economy  and  money  saving. 
For  the  rest  of  his  life  he  rivalled  Micky  in  niggardli- 
ness; but  in  large  philanthropy  they  did  grandly,  as 
the  sequel  will  prove. 

Both  boys  remembered  the  manner  in  which  Ed 
made  them  realize  that  he  had  been  ignored  by  not 
asking  his  advice  previous  to  the  fight  regarding  the 
subject  that  caused  the  fuss;  but  now,  after  talking  it 
over,  they  concluded  to  consult  him  about  it  the  first 
time  he  called. 

When  the  subject  was  mentioned  to  Ed  he  said  noth- 
ing of  the  fuss  and  fight  of  that  unhappy  evening,  but 
gave  his  opinion  on  economy  as  if  it  were  an  entirely 
new  thought  that  had  never  before  entered  his  head. 

He  explained  that  money  spending  was  a  habit  that 
grew  on  people  exactly  like  the  drinking  of  whiskey. 
It  seizes  a  person,  and  the  love  or  burning  desire  to 
spend  money  when  once  contracted  is  as  hard,  if  not 
harder,  to  shake  off  than  the  delirium  tremens. 

To  grow  to  be  a  spendthrift  means  the  wrecking  of 
a  home,  and  the  eventual  unhappiness  of  the  entire 
family.  In  the  end  it  brings  husband,  wife,  and  chil- 
dren face  to  face  with  and  companions  of  poverty,  and 
engenders  jealousy  and  envy,  as  it  prevents  them  from 
closing,  day  and  night,  their  eyes  to  the  prosperity  and 
comfort  of  those  who  are  of  a  saving  habit.  Such  a 
continual  reminder  is  a  goading  self-persecution.  To 
be  poor  is  bad  enough,  but  to  be  rich  and  then  to  be 
poor  is  hell. 

When  some  people  make  money  they  conceitedly 
give  themselves  the  credit  for  it,  and  do  not  think  of 
a  guiding  Providence,  and  too  often  become  haughty 


230  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

and  objectionably  exalted;  but  when  they  lose  their 
money  they  lay  the  blame  on  God  or  man  or  in  some 
manner  try  to  evade  their  own  foolish  doings;  but  in 
ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred  they  would  find  it 
their  own  fault,  and  not  God's,  if  they  would  honestly 
and  impartially  examine  their  past  actions ;  and  by  far 
the  most  of  the  unfortunates  would  discover  it  was 
caused  by  the  spending  or  spendthrift  habit  previously 
contracted. 

If  the  wife  is  the  spendthrift  of  the  family,  she  ought 
not  to  have  any  of  the  money  in  her  keeping;  if  the 
husband  is  the  spendthrift,  he  ought  not  to  hold  a  cent, 
but  to  turn  all  his  wages  or  income  over  to  his  careful 
wife;  but  if  husband  and  wife  are  spendthrifts,  then 
God  help  them  both ;  for  if  parents,  they  will  drag  their 
children  down  from  the  level  of  the  joys  of  prosperity 
to  which  they  were  entitled  by  being  born  into  a  world 
without  any  say  of  their  own. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  saving  of  money  is  a  habit 
that  grows  -on  people  after  they  once  get  the  ball  to 
rolling.  It  is  easy  to  glide  or  slide  into  the  spending 
habit,  but  not  so  easy  to  contract  the  saving  habit.  It 
requires  a  careful  guiding  of  the  young  child  into  the 
correct  way  of  saving  without  being  miserly,  and  one 
must  learn  to  hold  a  tight  rein  on  himself  for  days  and 
years  up  to  the  time  he  is  thirty,  and  even  then  he  is 
only  partially  safe;  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he  must  be 
on  his  guard. 

Does  it  pay  to  be  forever  on  one's  guard  and  save 
and  save  and  save?  The  answer  is  yes,  for  the  vast 
majority  of  those  who  save  must  necessarily  furnish 
the  money  for  the  rest  of  the  world  to  do  business  on 
and  to  get  a  living  for  their  families.  Those  who  do 
not  save  have  no  money  to  help  business  enterprises ; 
and,  therefore,  if  no  one  saved,  we  would  have  a  world 
of  useless,  idle  people,  like  the  naked  African  Hotten- 
tots, living  on  bananas. 


ECONOMY.  231 

There  are  two  classes  of  people  in  the  world — those 
who  gather  and  those  who  scatter,  and  the  first  class 
are  the  substantial  ones.  There  are  a  few  self-made 
professional  and  business  men  in  the  world ;  but  the 
vast  majority  of  the  great  lawyers,  doctors,  ministers, 
and  others  had  saving  parents  back  of  them  to  econo- 
mize in  many  directions  to  give  them  a  college  educa- 
tion for  a  proper  start ;  and  every  one  of  them  can  look 
back  to  boyhood  playmates  who  were  children  of 
neighbors  who  did  not  save,  and  who  lost  for  their 
boys  or  girls  the  opportunities  that  the  economy  or 
saving  habits  of  parents  might  have  given  them.  So 
a  spendthrift  takes  upon  his  shoulders  the  future  silent 
reproaches  of  children  who  live  after  he  is  dead  and 
gone. 

It  is  not  what  a  man  earns  that  makes  him  rich,  but 
what  he  saves.  A  man  who  makes  $500  a  year  and 
saves  $100  is  better  off  financially  than  the  man  who 
earns  $5000  and  has  nothing  left  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  $5000  man  may  have  had  more  fun  and  comforts, 
but  no  man  who  has  others  depending  upon  him  has 
the  moral  right  to  spend  all  he  earns.  The  love  of 
a  parent  for  his  family  should  be  the  positive  end  of 
the  magnet  that  will  draw  him  most  willingly 
toward  the  habits  of  economy  for  the  sake  of  the  future 
of  those  very  loved  ones  themselves.  Unexpected 
troubles  and  expenses,  unlooked-for  reverses  and  loss 
of  situations,  with  death  and  calamities  that  no  family 
can  escape,  should  be  the  negative  end  of  the  magnet, 
impelling  him  to  lay  up  a  portion  of  his  income,  how- 
ever small,  for  a  rainy  day. 

The  habit  of  spending  money  to  excess  is  a  greater 
sin  in  America  than  elsewhere,  because  money  is  more 
easily  made  here.  The  vast  majority  of  the  foreign 
world,  especially  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  Asia,  earn 
from  three  to  twelve  cents  a  day,  and  their  emaciated 
bodies  and  rags  for  clothing  speak  louder  than  their 


232  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

pitiful  faces,  and  seem  to  be  continually  asking  why 
they  were  ever  born  or  "  Is  life  worth  the  living?" 

It  is  not  necessary  for  a  man  to  be  a  miser  to  be 
saving,  but  many  a  man  and  woman  have  denied  them- 
selves the  small  comforts  and  joys  of  life  in  order  to 
accumulate  for  some  great  good  to  coming  generations. 
Some  persons  call  such  a  one  a  miserly  philanthropist. 
One  man  of  that  kind  once  gave  half  a  million  dollars 
to  found  an  asylum.  A  committee  of  citizens  called 
at  his  house  after  dark  to  thank  him  in  the  name  of 
the  town.  He  received  them  in  a  room  dimly  lighted 
with  only  one  small  candle,  which  permitted  them 
barely  to  see  the  qutlines  of  each  other's  faces.  One 
of  his  visitors  asked  him  if  he  was  suffering  from  eye 
trouble,  and  when  informed  in  the  negative  made  bold 
to  ask  why  he  had  such  a  dim  light  in  the  room.  The 
reply  was  that  all  his  life  he  had  been  of  a  very  saving 
disposition  in  small  things,  that  he  might  eventually  be 
enabled  to  be  generous  in  large  things.  Such  cases 
are  not  rare,  and  many  institutions  have  been  founded 
on  the  self-denial  of  others,  and  thousands  of  persons 
who  laugh  at  such  philanthropy  wrould  find,  if  they  only 
knew  the  unwritten  history  of  their  own  lives,  that  a 
portion  and  sometimes  a  very  large  proportion  of  their 
own  comforts,  education,  and  individuality  came  of  the 
miserly  self-denial  of  others  who  lived  before  them. 

The  habit  of  saving  money  and  spending  money  is 
most  aptly  illustrated  in  an  incident  that  seems  incredi- 
ble, but  is  nevertheless  true.  An  aged  millionaire  of 
the  United  States  was  miserly  in  the  extreme ;  he  had 
made  his  money  and  increased  it  by  most  rigid  econ- 
omy. He  denied  himself  even  proper  food  and  respec- 
table clothing.  All  the  family  he  had  was  one  son,  who 
was  a  spendthrift,  and  who  wasted  money  in  wicked 
and  lavish  prodigality.  Some  of  the  father's  old 
friends  remonstrated  with  the  millionaire  for  not 
caring  about  himself,  and  cited  the  fact  that  his  son 


ECONOMY.  233 

squandered  in  one  night  more  than  the  old  gentleman 
spent  in  a  year,  and  begged  him  at  least  to  have  good 
food  and  decent-appearing  and  warm  clothing.  The 
father  replied  that  he  had  all  he  wanted  and  cared  for, 
and  said  he  had  no  one  to  leave  the  money  to  excepting 
his  son,  and  the  only  thought  he  had  in  the  matter  was 
that  if  "  Johnny  only  enjoyed  spending  it  half  as  much 
as  he  (the  father)  enjoyed  saving  it  he  was  satisfied." 
Such  a  case  is  mistaken  economy,  as  the  accumulated 
money  had  better  have  been  directed  to  channels  where 
humanity  could  have  been  benefited  rather  than  de- 
based. 

Some  persons  claim  that  the  squandering  of  that 
money  on  the  part  of  the  son  was  benefiting  somebody, 
as  it  was  being  scattered  in  various  channels  of  trade 
where  the  poor  were  being  employed  and  their  families 
supported.  That  is  true,  but  it  would  have  been  better 
to  spend  the  money  in  such  a  way  as  to  uplift  humanity, 
rather  than  debase  it.  For  instance,  if  every  person 
spent  fifty  cents  per  night  for  whiskey,  it  would  mean 
the  employment  of  thousands  of  laborers  and  clerks  in 
distilleries  and  saloons,  but  would  result  in  a  great 
number  of  murders,  innumerable  arrests  for  crimes,  and 
a  whole  catalogue  of  domestic  sorrow.  But  suppose 
whiskey  could.be  discarded,  and  in  its  stead  people 
would  spend  fifty  cents  per  night  in  attending  concerts 
and  educating  themselves  to  the  love  of  music  and 
social  enjoyment  with  their  united  families,  there 
would  be  an  uplifting  of  the  people  rather  than  a 
degradation,  and  the  result  would  be  that  the  same 
number  of  persons  would  find  employment  from  the 
scattering  of  the  music  money  in  paper-mills  and  in 
printing  music  books  and  a  hundred  other  channels  of 
music  industry  as  had  formerly  been  employed  by  the 
liquor  interests.  The  whiskey  crimes  would  not  be 
committed  and  a  number  of  penitentiaries  would  be 
abolished. 


234  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

So  it  follows  that  the  indiscriminate  spending  of 
money  for  questionable  purposes  does  not  always  bene- 
fit mankind. 

"  Now,  both  you  boys  are  starting  out  in  business, 
and  you  want  to  be  successful  and  end  up  rich  rather 
than  bankrupts.  The  sooner  you  find  out  the  better  * 
it  will  be  for  you  that  not  more  than  one  or  two  persons 
in  a  hundred  ever  succeed  in  business.  The  great 
majority  make  failures,  and  nearly  all  the  failures  are 
due  to  the  spendthrift  habit  of  paying  out  too  much 
for  their  expenses  and  contracting  debts  they  are  unable 
to  meet. 

"  The  greatest  cause  of  failure,  in  business  is  not 
that  the  merchants  do  not  make  enough  money,  but 
that  they  allow  their  personal  and  family  expenses  to 
increase  beyond  all  reason,  for  they  have  contracted  the 
spendthrift  habit.  The  next  reason  of  importance  is 
the  selling  of  goods  on  credit  and  an  inability  to  collect 
the  money.  Now,  if  you  are  careful  with  your  ex- 
penses and  credits,  then  there  is  no  reason  why  you 
cannot  be  successful. 

"  But  before  you  go  into  business  you  ought  to  have 
some  plan  or  object  that  you  desire  to  accomplish, 
reach,  or  attain.  If  you  only  have  ambition  to  grow  up 
to  manhood  just  to  make  a  living,  then  that  is  about 
all  you  can  ever  expect,  as  people  very  seldom  get 
beyond  their  expectations ;  but  if  you  want  to  be 
millionaires,  you  must  start  out  with  a  determination 
in  that  direction,  you  must  try  to  save  your  money  and 
invest  it  in  business,  and  have  it  increase  by  profits  and 
interest  and  compound  interest  and  rents,  and  you  must 
determine  at  the  very  first  to  so  direct  affairs  that 
as  soon  as  you  are  able  you  will  not  be  compelled  to 
pay  rent  or  interest  to  any  one.  Your  plans  will  be 
to  take  in  rent  and  interest  from  others,  and  to  be 
money-lenders  and  not  borrowers.  But  the  main  thing 
is  to  learn  to  bargain,  to  save  money  in  little  things; 


ECONOMY.  235 

the  habit  will  grow  on  you  and  gradually  teach  you 
to  be  saving  and  careful  in  large  transactions. 

"  Then  another  thing  to  think  about  is  what  you  are 
going  to  do  with  your  money  after  you  get  it.  You 
must  remember  that  you  will  have  to  die  some  time, 
and  others  will  get  it.  Whom  do  you  want  to  spend  it 
for  you  after  you  are  dead?  If  you  are  wise,  you  will 
do  two  things.  First  make  up  your  minds  to  be  rich, 
very  rich ;  and,  second,  for  a  climax  to  your  lives,  to 
try  and  have  in  view  some  grand  object  for  humanity, 
so  that  the  world  will  be  benefited  by  your  having  lived 
in  it,  and  that  you  may  see  some  of  the  good  of  it 
before  you  die." 

Ed  then  wound  up  his  talk  or  advice  by  saying  "  that 
there  were  three  things  in  life  that  were  necessary  to 
accomplish  success  in  any  department  of  life.  The  first 
was  earnestness,  the  second  was  earnestness,  and  the 
third  was  EARNESTNESS." 

After  Ed  had  left  the  hospital  the  boys  talked  over 
the  subject  of  his  remarks  until  nearly  midnight,  and 
might  have  kept  it  up  until  daybreak  if  the  night  doctor 
had  not  ordered  them  to  stop  talking  and  go  to  sleep ; 
but  they  never  forgot  that  afternoon  talk  as  long  as 
they  lived.  It  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  and 
helped  them  to  mould  their  characters  for  ultimate  use- 
fulness. Before  they  left  the  hospital  they  had  adopted 
plans  for  their  manhood,  and  Micky  had  inspired  Fred 
with  a  desire  to  be  a  millionaire  a  hundred  times  over. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

DAMAGES. 

HOSPITAL  life  has  very  little  charm,  even  if  the 
patients  be  of  contented  dispositions;  but  in  the  case 
of  Micky  and  Fred  it  was  more  than  irksome,  as  they 
were  too  young  to  take  things  philosophically. 

Ed  and  Sally  visited  them  often,  and  the  young 
lawyer  told  them  of  his  daily  progress  in  the  case  he 
was  preparing  for  "  damages."  He  had  interviewed 
a  hundred  and  fifty-three  persons.  Primarily  he  had 
learned  that  the  lumber  and  canal-boat  belonged  to  the 
great  Mr.  Ingals,  the  railroad  king,  and  as  he  was  very 
rich  there  was  responsibility  in  the  defendant.  Next 
he  had  documentary  evidence  of  the  original  ownership 
of  the  lumber  and  had  additional  documentary  evidence 
of  the  passing  of  the  lumber  into  Mr.  Ingals's  posses- 
sion. He  had  affidavits  as  to  the  men  who  handled 
the  lumber,  the  agents  or  employes  of  Mr.  Ingals,  and 
also  competent  and  expert  witnesses  to  prove  that  the 
lumber  had  been  most  carelessly  piled  up  on  the  canal 
bank — in  fact,  so  dangerously  unworkmanlike  that 
three  persons  had  warned  them  of  their  apparent  crim- 
inal negligence.  He  also  had  affidavits  from  the  two 


DAMAGES.  237 

night  policemen  that  they  had  only  come  on  their 
beats  ten  minutes  previous  to  the  accident,  and  had  not 
as  yet  reached  the  location,  but  could  testify  that  other 
lumber  dealers  took  pains  to  pile  their  boards  securely. 
He  also  had  the  affidavits  of  two  men  who  had  over- 
heard Mr.  Ingals's  workmen  say  that  they  hoped  the 
lumber  would  be  piled  so  loosely  "  that  it  would  fall 
clown  and  kill  a  hundred  of  the  young  kids  who  were 
in  the  habit  of  playing  on  it  at  night-time."  He  had 
twenty  witnesses  to  prove  the  particulars  and  details 
of  the  accident  and  expert  testimony  from  the  hospital 
regarding  the  seriousness  of  the  affair;  in  fact,  he  had 
a  complete  case  against  Mr.  Ingals. 

Ed  presented  the  whole  mass  of  evidence* to  Messrs. 
Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts.  Mr.  Evarts  looked  over 
the  papers  with  wonderful  interest,  and  assigned  the 
case  to  the  proper  junior  partner,  who  instructed  Ed 
in  the  correct  drawing  up  of  the  legal  documents.  In 
due  time  they  were  filed  in  court  and  papers  served  on 
Mr.  Ingals.  It  was  the  principal  topic  of  conversation 
in  the  great  law  office,  and  overshadowed  legal  cases 
of  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  times  more  importance  in 
dollars  and  cents ;  but  there  were  none  of  more  impor- 
tance to  the  brotherhood  of  man,  as  sequences  proved. 

When  Mr.  Ingals  was  "  served"  with  the  legal 
papers  he  was  quite  astonished  to  find  he  was  being 
sued  for  $20,000  for  something  of  which  he  knew 
absolutely  nothing;  so  putting  on  his  hat,  he  started 
down  to  see  his  intimate  friends,  Messrs.  Lincoln, 
Seward  &  Evarts,  to  know  what  they  meant  by  engag- 
ing themselves  in  such  a  suit  for  damages  against  him, 
for  was  he  not  their  friend  and  client,  and  would  they 
please  explain  ? 

Messrs.  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  invited  Mr. 
Ingals  into  their  private  office,  and  when  they  had 
closed  the  door  they  all  joined  in  a  hearty  laugh  at  Mr. 
Ingals's  expense,  who  did  not  appreciate  their  hilarity 


238  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

until  the  history  and  personality  of  Messrs.  Flynn  & 
Schmidt  were  properly  explained. 

Mr.  Ingals  "  took  in  the  situation"  and  became  quite 
interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  boys  and  also  of  Ed,  and 
complimented  the  skilful  work  of  the  young  would-be 
lawyer,  and  said  he  would  go  to  the  hospital  and  talk 
with  the  "  mutilated"  firm. 

In  a  few  days  Mr.  Ingals  called  on  Lincoln,  Seward 
&  Evarts,  and  said  he  had  seen  the  boys  and  was  quite 
pleased  with  them,  especially  with  their  earnestness 
about  the  kite  business ;  he  had  seen  the  surgeons,  and 
found  that  both  boys  were  pretty  bady  bruised,  but 
nothing  extremely  serious  and  there  were  no  perma- 
nent injuries.  He  said  he  had  been  thinking  the  matter 
over,  and  concluded  there  was  carelessness  on  the  part 
of  his  employes,  but  really  no  great  damage  case 
against  him  for  $20,000  or  any  sum  like  it.  He  ac- 
knowledged the  responsibility  of  himself  on  account 
of  his  men,  and  said  he  thought  the  best  thing  to  do 
was  to  furnish  the  two  boys  with  some  money  and 
a  pocketful  of  railroad  passes  and  to  send  them  travel- 
ling over  the  United  States  for  six  weeks  until  school 
commenced  for  the  benefit  of  their  health  and  the  gath- 
ering of  commercial  information. 

Mr.  Ingals  thought  the  boys  were  bright  enough  to 
travel  alone  anywhere,  and  as  he  was  president  of 
several  railroads,  he  could  also  obtain  passes  on  every 
other  line  in  the  country.  Messrs.  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts  fell  in  with  the  proposition ;  Ed  was  summoned 
to  the  office  and  told  that  Mr.  Ingals  would  settle  the 
suit  on  the  basis  of  seven  hundred  dollars'  worth  of 
railroad  passes  across  and  around  the  United  States, 
and  $300  in  money  to  pay  Flynn  &  Schmidt's  other 
travelling  expenses. 

Ed  thoughtlessly  took  upon  himself  .the  responsibil- 
ity of  ignominiously  rejecting  any  such  settlement,  his 
face  flushing  up  quickly  at  the  idea  of  any  such  insult- 


DAMAGES.  239 

ing,  paltry  proposition.  But  he  suddenly  checked 
himself,  begged  the  pardon  of  his  employers,  and  said 
that  whatever  their  pleasure  or  advice  was  in  the  matter 
he  would  communicate  to  his  clients,  Flynn  &  Schmidt, 
but  Mr.  Lincoln  drew  Ed  into  an  argument,  in  which 
all  three  partners  and  Mr.  Ingals  joined,  and  gave  the 
lad  a  hard  tussle. 

Ed  had  studied  the  case  thoroughly,  and  with  won- 
derful memory  cited  twenty  or  thirty  decisions  bearing 
on  the  subject  from  the  different  States,  and  did  it  with 
so  much  precocity  that  when  he  was  through  he  had 
won  his  way  into  the  confidence  of  his  three  employers ; 
and  Mr.  Lincoln,  putting  his  hand  on  the  head  of  Ed, 
said :  "  My  boy,  you  have  done  well.  I  am  quite  proud 
of  you,"  which  was  more  gratification  to  Ed  than 
would  have  been  a  bishop's  blessing. 

The  fact  that  the  great  Mr.  Lincoln  was  "  proud  of 
him"  was  more  than  he  could  hold  within  himself,  and 
when  he  left  the  office  he  could  hardly  run  fast  enough 
to  carry  the  news  home  to  his  mother,  who  a  few 
minutes  later  knelt  down  by  herself  and  gave  thanks 
that  she  now  had  some  evidence  that  she  was  not  to  be 
disappointed  in  the  dream  of  her  life — that  blood  would 
tell  and  her  son  might  be  a  mental  giant  among  men. 

Ed  carried  the  news  of  the  settlement  of  the  case 
for  damages  to  Flynn  and  Schmidt,  and  the  evening  was 
spent  in  talking  the  matter  over.  Micky  at  first  could 
not  get  it  out  of  his  head  that  by  taking  the  $1000  in 
settlement  of  the  $20,000  suit  they  were  actually  losing 
$19,000  spot  cash ;  but  when  Ed  explained  all  about  the 
jury  system,  and  how  the  twelve  men  might  not  render 
a  verdict  for  a  penny  in  their  favor,  in  which  case 
Flynn  &  Schmidt  would  have  to  pay  at  least  $100  for 
court  expenses,  Micky  came  to  his  senses,  and  both 
Fred  and  himself  were  willing  to  acquiesce  in  the  settle- 
ment with  Mr.  Ingals  for  $1000,  consisting  of  $700  in 
railroad  tickets  and  $300  cash. 


240  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

In  a  few  days  the  money  and  railroad  transportation 
were  turned  over  to  Sally  as  treasurer  of  the  firm,  and 
she  deposited  the  $300  in  bank,  but  kept  the  travelling 
tickets  at  home.  Ed  then  presented  a  bill  of  $25  to 
Flynn  &  Schmidt  for  legal  services,  which  nearly  threw 
Micky  into  a  relapse.  He  still  reta:ied  the  impression 
that  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  had  lost  $19,000  for 
them,  and  now  to  charge  $25  extra  was  too  much  for 
his  nerves.  The  idea  of  a  great  rich  firm  like  Lincoln, 
Seward  &  Evarts  taking  $25  from  two  poor  boys  was 
a  shame,  and  he  was  about  to  renudiate  the  bill  when 
Fred  saw  the  foolishness  of  Micky's  position,  and  said 
that  the  bill  was  all  right,  and  he  demanded  that  it 
should  be  paid;  but  Micky  thought  that  probably  $10 
was  enough,  and  was  about  to  insist  on  it  when  he  saw 
Ed  rise  up  from  his  chair  with  that  same  calm  look 
of  indifference  that  appeared  on  two  former  occasions 
when  he  withdrew  from  them  his  services  as  legal 
counsellor. 

Micky  saw  the  possibilities  of  losing  Ed's  services, 
and  immediately  changed  his  tone  and  asked  him  kindly 
if  $15  would  be  all  right.  Ed  did  not  even  answer,  but 
calmly  wore  that  same  old  look.  Micky  saw  that  Ed 
was  about  to  leave,  but  the  idea  nearly  crushed  him  at 
parting  with  $25.  It  was  the  largest  sum  he  had  ever 
been  called  upon  to  disburse  for  anything  during  his 
whole  life,  and  the  strain  on  his  cupidity  was  at  high 
pressure.  Suddenly  a  brilliant  idea  struck  him,  and  he 
asked  Ed  if  he  would  not  be  willing  to  take  ^25  in 
railroad  passes,  for  he  secretly  thought  it  would  be 
much  easier  for  him  to  part  with  passes  than  with  cold 
cash,  but  Ed  made  no  answer;  and  Micky,  as  a  last 
effort,  offered  $20  cash,  but  in  a  moment  he  detected 
a  movement  of  Ed  that  tended  toward  the  door,  and  in 
desperation  said :  "  All  right,  Ed,  make  it  $25 ;  but  I 
suppose  you  will  have  no  objection  to  taking  off  ten 
per  cent,  for  cash?"  No  answer  came;  Micky  with 


DAMAGES.  241 

a  deep  sigh  settled  back  in  his  chair  and  with  a  sup- 
pressed groan  said :  "  All  right,  Ed,  Sally  will  give  you 
$25."  She  drew  check  No.  i  for  that  amount,  and 
handed  it  to  Ed,  who  thanked  her  with  professional 
graciousness,  and  then  sat  down  and  spent  the  rest  of 
the  evening  as  pleasantly  as  if  nothing  unusual  had 
happened. 

Fred  asked  Ed  what  was  meant  by  juries,  and  Ed 
replied  that  "  the  jury  system  was  originally  evolved 
as  a  grand  defence  or  protection  of  the  rights  of 
human  beings ;"  and  then  in  explanation  said  that  "  for- 
merly kings  and  emperors  could  do  pretty  much  as  they 
pleased  with  everything  and  everybody.  In  fact,  it  is 
that  way  in  some  far-away  nations  to-day.  In  the  old 
times  if  a  king  took  a  notion  into  his  head  to  cut  any 
one's  head  off,  then  off  it  went ;  and  if  any  other  person 
got  mad  about  it  or  objected,  then  off  went  his  head, 
too.  No  person  dared  to  question  anything  the  king 
did,  for  he  considered  he  owned  every  person,  soul  and 
body,  and  also  every  one's  children  and  property 
besides. 

"  Then  the  king's  sons  or  the  princes  took  it  into 
their  heads  to  do  pretty  much  the  same  thing  with  any 
person,  excepting  the  king,  their  father.  Then  the 
nobles  and  lords  commenced  to  be  tyrants  also,  and  to 
take  money,  property,  or  goods  from  people  who  were 
afraid  to  offer  any  resistance.  So  it  came  about  that 
the  poor  people  had  no  rights  or  protection  to  their 
lives  or  the  lives  of  their  wives  and  children  or  to  their 
property;  and  it  kept  on  in  this  way  until  one  day  the 
people  could  not  stand  it  any  longer  and  rebelled ;  and 
the  first  thing,  when  the  king  found  he  could  not  help 
himself,  was  to  satisfy  them  by  passing  a  law  that  no 
one's  life  should  ever  be  taken  unless  there  was  some 
good  reason  for  it,  and  when  any  man  did  wrong 
twelve  good  and  true  men  were  to  be  called  together 
whom  the  people  were  satisfied  would  judge  fair;  and 


242  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

these  twelve  men  were  called  jurymen,  and  they 
listened  to  everything  that  was  said  for  and  against  the 
prisoner,  and  whatever  they  concluded  in  the  matter 
was  done;  and  thus  the  right  of  a  person  to  live  did 
not  simply  depend  on  the  caprice  or  anger  of  a  king. 

"  After  they  found  their  lives  were  safe  the  next 
thing  the  people  asked  for  was  liberty  of  person — that 
is,  they  asked  not  to  be  thrust  into  prison  at  the  whim 
of  the  king  or  the  nobles,  but  first  to  have  it  determined 
by  twelve  men  whether  they  had  done  anything  that 
would  warrant  the  king  or  the  nobles  or  the  govern- 
ment in  shutting  them  up  in  jail.  Exception  was  made 
to  small  or  minor  offences,  such  as  when  a  person  was 
caught  red-handed  in  misdemeanors.  In  that  case 
a  police  judge  or  magistrate  could  send  them  to  prison 
without  trial  by  jury,  but  the  judges  often  were  wrong, 
and  sent  innocent  persons  to  jail.  Then  the  people 
demanded  that  another  right  should  be  granted  to  them 
— the  right  of  habeas  corpus  proceedings,  which  meant 
that  any  person  thrust  into  prison  wrongfully  could 
have  the  right  to  ask  a  judge  to  look  into  his  case  and, 
if  necessary,  call  a  jury  and  hear  the  story  and  try  him, 
and  not  let  him,  an  innocent  man,  die  or  rot  in  prison. 

"  Then,  again,  in  the  old  days  when  one  citizen  dis- 
puted with  another  about  property  or  bargains  or  any 
business  transaction  or  complication,  the  king  could 
step  in  and  settle  the  case  just  as  he  pleased,  whether 
he  was  right  or  wrong;  and  when  the  people  could 
stand  it  no  longer  they  asked  that  all  their  quarrels  and 
disputes  should  be  settled  by  a  jury  of  twelve  men ;  and 
so  during  a  period  of  centuries  it  gradually  has  come 
about  that  trial  by  jury  is  granted  to  citizens  of  civilized 
countries ;  and  in  this  manner,  if  Flynn  &  Schmidt  and 
Mr.  Ingals  had  not  settled  their  damage  case  among 
themselves,  then  a  jury  of  twelve  men  could  have  been 
called  on  to  say  whether  Mr.  Ingals  should  pay  and,  if 
anything,  how  much.  In  the  old  days,  if  Mr.  Ingals 


DAMAGES.  243 

had  been  a  friend  of  the  king,  then  he  (the  king) 
might  have  laughed  at  Micky  and  Fred  and  sent  them, 
if  he  chose  to  do  so,  to  prison  for  twenty  years  for 
daring  to  be  bold  enough  to  bother  Mr.  Ingals,  which 
would  have  been  a  grand  outrage  if  Flynn  &  Schmidt's 
cause  was  just.  So  you  see  the  jury  system  is  a  great 
thing  for  the  liberties  and  rights  of  people  as  against 
the  rich  and  powerful  or  governing  classes." 

"  But,"  said  Fred,  "  are  the  juries  always  '  on  the 
square?'  Do  they  settle  things  fair  and  right?" 

"  As  a  general  rule  they  do,"  replied  Ed,  "  although 
they  make  mistakes.  But  with  all  the  errors  and  mis- 
takes the  entire  people,  as  a  rule,  are  a  million  times 
better  off  than  formerly.  The  jury  system  of  this 
century  is  better  than  that  of  the  last  century,  and  that 
of  the  last  century  was  better  than  the  preceding  one, 
and  the  next  century  will  be  better  than  this  one  in 
which  we  are  now  living." 

"  But,"  said  Micky,  "  can't  a  rich  man  pay  the  jury- 
men or  the  judge  to  be  on  his  side,  and  thus  get  what 
he  wants?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  Ed,  "  it  has  been  done,  but  it  is 
against  the  law;  and  any  man  who  would  be  guilty  of 
abusing  or  tampering  with  a  jury  deserves  the  worst 
kind  of  punishment,  many  persons  having  been  sent 
to  prison  for  so  doing.  The  jury  system  is  one  of  the 
greatest  blessings  that  has  ever  yet  come  to  man.  It  is 
a  sacred  institution,  and  any  one  who  trifles  with  it 
is  an  enemy  to  freedom  and  a  foe  to  right  and  justice." 

"  What  improvement  can  they  make  next  century? 
Why  don't  they  improve  it  right  off?"  asked  Micky. 

"  There  is  nothing  human,"  said  Ed,  "  that  grows 
perfect  right  off.  The  jury  system  has  been  hundreds 
of  years  in  getting  to  be  as  good  as  it  is.  Everything 
regarding  the  law  has  to  be  born  of  experience,  and  as 
people  find  better  ways  of  doing  things  they  demand 
its  adoption,  and  in  the  end  it  is  forthcoming. 


244  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

"  The  improvement  in  the  jury  system  of  the  next 
century  .will  be  in  the  line  of  a  better  manner  of  select- 
ing men  who  are  by  education  and  character  fitted  to 
judge  regarding  classified  subjects — that  is  to  say,  the 
same  calibre  of  men  will  not  be  called  upon  to  decide 
all  kinds  of  disputes;  everything  is  becoming  so  tech- 
nical now  that  when  a  question  arises  where  the  evi- 
dence is  profound  or  deep  or  conflicting  the  great  mass 
of  jurymen  do  not  understand  what  they  are  listening 
to,  and  have  to  depend  on  what  the  presiding  judge 
directs.  Even  the  judges  themselves  do  not  know  as 
much  about  some  things  as  hundreds  of  private  citizens 
who  ought  to  be  called  on  for  jury  service  in  just  such 
cases  where  a  knowledge  of  the  subject  is  as  of  much 
importance  as  fine,  hair-splitting  law  points.  So  I 
believe  that  during  the  next  hundred  years  the  advance 
or  evolution  of  the  jury  system  will  demand  classified 
jurymen.  When  that  time  does  come  then  many 
patriotic  and  intelligent  citizens  who  constantly  shirk 
jury  duty  at  the  present  time  will  feel  it  an  honor  to 
be  called  upon  to  settle  the  differences  of  unfortunate 
litigants,  and  will  feel  better  satisfied  when  they  have 
disputes  or  lawsuits  of  their  own  that  are  to  be  settled 
by  other  juries." 

Before  Ed  was  through  he  had  shown  Micky  and 
Fred  that  life  and  liberty  and  all  possession  of  prop- 
erty were  safe  through  the  purity  of  judges  and  juries. 

All  arrangements  were  made  that  night  for  the  long 
trip  and  the  route  selected  and  date  of  departure  fixed. 

It  was  an  eventful  morning  at  the  Union  depot  that 
saw  the  two  boys  start  on  their  eleven-thousand-mile 
journey. 

Mrs.  Flynn  and  Mrs.  Schmidt  cried  like  children, 
but  Sally  was  brave  and  encouraged  the  boys  all  she 
could,  for  she  was  full  of  enthusiasm  about  the  trip. 

A  dozen  neighbors,  besides  forty  boys  and  girls  from 
Bucktown,  were  there  to  say  good-by ;  and  as  the  train 


DAMAGES.  245 

started  a  yell  and  a  hurrah  went  up  from  the  gamins 
that  made  the  depot  ring  and  caused  fifty  heads  to  pop 
out  of  the  car  windows  of  the  moving  train  to  see  what 
was  the  matter,  and  the  said  heads  barely  escaped  being 
cut  off  by  the  doorway  pillars  at  the  depot  exit.  This 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  mothers 
of  the  two  boys,  who  day  after  day  during  their  entire 
absence  would  meet  morning  and  evening  to  tell  of 
their  dreadful  dreams  of  disaster  and  their  premoni- 
tions about  their  sons,  and  exchange  groans  of  anxiety, 
and  they  borrowed  enough  trouble  to  start  a  Pandora 
bank. 

The  boys  each  took  a  light  valise  containing  only 
linen  and  underclothing.  They  carried  no  extra  suit 
of  clothes.  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  them  a  fine  aneroid 
barometer  and  thermometer  combined.  Ed  impressed 
them  with  its  great  value,  for  he  heard  it  had  cost  $35. 
It  was  only  two  inches  in  diameter  and  very  accurate, 
and  with  it  they  could  tell  the  height  of  the  mountains, 
plains,  cities,  valleys,  etc.,  all  the  way  across  the  conti- 
nent. Mr.  Seward  sent  them  a  fine  field-glass  and  Mr. 
Evarts  gave  a  first-class  pocket  compass.  Mrs.  Webster 
made  them  a  reticule  arrangement,  containing  needles, 
thread,  buttons,  scissors,  and  everything  complete  for 
mending  and  sewing,  and  also  a  roll  of  binding  cloth 
for  cut  fingers  and  bruises.  Mrs.  Flynn  gave  them 
each  a  brush  and  comb  and  whisk-broom  and  two  boxes 
of  blacking  and  shoe-brushes.  Mrs.  Schmidt  contrib- 
uted a  case  containing  two  each  of  knives,  forks, 
spoons,  collapsing  cups,  napkins,  and  tin  plates,  and 
lunch  to  last  two  days.  Sally  presented  them  with 
pens,  ink,  lead-pencils,  paper,  memorandum  books,  and 
diaries.  The  clerks  in  the  office  of  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts  sent  to  each  of  them  a  $2  Waterbury  watch, 
Mr.  Ingals  sent  them  a  letter  of  introduction  to  railroad 
officials,  to  be  used  if  they  got  into  trouble,  and  Ed 
gave  them  a  couple  of  small-sized  books  on  general 


246  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

statistics  of  the  United  States  and  also  a  dozen  postal- 
cards  ;  and  so  the  boys  felt  proud  and  happy  about  their 
fine  outfit,  and  stood  at  the  end  of  the  last  car  and 
waved  adieu  to  their  friends ;  and  as  their  car  wheeled 
round  a  bend  .the  depot  and  friends  disappeared  from 
their  sight,  and  Fred  said :  "  Well,  Micky,  we're  in 
for  it." 

Before  they  returned  to  that  same  depot  they  had 
travelled  in  every  State  and  Territory  on  the  mainland 
of  the  United  States,  excepting  Alaska.  It  was  a  great 
trip,  and  made  a  wonderful  impression  on  their  young 
minds  that  ever  afterward  had  an  influence  on  their 
busy  lives. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

TRAVEL. 

TRAVEL  is  an  education  in  itself,  if  one  journeys 
with  his  eyes  and  ears  open,  and  it  is  strange  what  dif- 
ferent persons  can  see  over  the  same  route  on  the 
same  trip. 

A  geologist,  looking  out  of  the  car  window,  sees 
away  back  thousands  of  years  into  the  glacial  period; 
while  his  neighbor  sees  nothing  but  an  almost  endless 
and  needless  mass  of  common  gravel  mixed  with 
cobble-stones  and  boulders. 

A  botanist  notes  the  variety  and  structure  of  vege- 
tation, while  the  philosopher,  revelling  in  the  same 
trees  and  flora,  thinks  only  of  the  kindly  object  of 
God  in  mantling  the  earth  with  a  receptacle  for  stor- 
ing up  the  might-have-been  wasted  sunshine  for  the 
use  of  man,  now  and  in  coming  ages. 

An  artist  has  his  delight  in  the  general  staging  of 
the  whole  vista,  seeing  beauty  even  in  the  disorder  of 
nature,  as  well  as  in  her  choicest  settings. 

It  is  fortunate  for  tourists  if  they  have  had  any 
special  education  before  starting  on  an  extended  jour- 
ney, for  there  is  no  comparison  to  be  made  between 


248  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

what  they  see  and  what  their  uneducated  companion 
grasps,  who  starts  out  on  a  haphazard,  time-killing 
tour  of  observation. 

Micky  and  Fred  missed  the  higher  joys  of  travel,  as 
they  knew  nothing  of  geology  or  botany  or  any  other 
science,  nor  had  they  any  latent  artistic  sense  of 
beauty  to  throw  them  into  ever-recurring  ecstasy. 
They  were  out  for  business  and  business  only ;  the  de- 
partment of  business  that  was  uppermost  in  their 
minds  was  kites,  and  the  first  place  they  started  for 
was  Elkhart,  Ind.,  where  they  heard  there  was  a 
tissue-paper  mill. 

They  were  less  interested  in  the  scenery  than  in 
other  things;  they  were  bewildered  at  the  immense 
number  of  corn  fields.  The  cost  of  the  rail  fences  and 
stone  wralls  around  the  farms  seemed  to  them  a  dead 
waste  of  labor.  "  No  wonder,"  said  Micky,  "  the 
farmers  are  poor.  They  spend  so  much  time  on  fences, 
which  should  be  devoted  to  something  more  useful. 
They  only  have  fences  because  it  is  a  custom  to  have 
them.  They  have  $2000  worth  of  fences  to  keep  $200 
worth  of  horses  from  running  away,  and  if  they  want 
to  keep  their  live  stock  out  of  their  grain,  why  don't 
they  just  fence  in  enough  of  their  woods  to  turn  their 
animals  loose  in?  If  they  would  make  such  a  law  or 
all  adopt  that  as  a  custom  and  keep  their  cows  at 
home,  then  they  would  have  more  hours  to  make 
money  instead  of  wasting  their  time  on  fences,  and, 
besides,  what  is  the  use  of  having  such  nice  fences 
or  any  fence  at  all  around  or  in  front  of  their  houses? 
It  is  only  a  matter  of  custom,  for  the  houses  look  nicer 
and  more  hospitable  without  them."  Then  they 
figured  up  the  cost  of  all  the  fences  in  the  United 
States  at  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  and  said  it 
was  all  a  dead  waste  of  time  and  effort. 

Their  conversation  was  overheard  by  passengers 
sitting  near  them,  some  of  whom  were  farmers,  and 


TRAVEL.  249 

before  dinner  time  came  around  a  general  discussion 
on  the  subject  of  fences  occupied  the  entire  attention 
of  the  centre  of  the  car  where  the  boys  were  sitting, 
and  they  would  "  sass"  back  at  any  man  who  jested 
or  differed  without  reason  or  seemed  to  want  to  make 
sport  of  them. 

At  dinner  time  they  ate  from  their  lunch-basket, 
but  went  out  to  the  station  and  paid  20  cents  for 
coffee — 10  cents  per  cup.  This  20  cents  was  the  first 
money  they  had  spent  on  the  journey,  and  it  caused 
them  much  discussion  and  considerable  figuring,  for 
if  they  were  to  be  gone  sixty  days  and  had  coffee  twice 
a  day,  it  would  amount  to  40  cents  per  day,  to  $24  for 
coffee  alone  for  the  trip,  and  that  made  them  open 
their  eyes. 

Fred  proposed  that  they  try  and  earn  some  money 
from  the  passengers  to  pay  for  coffee;  the  question 
was  how  to  do  it,  and  Micky  suggested  "  blacking 
boots ;"  so  they  set  to  work  in  earnest,  and  after  asking 
every  man  in  the  three  general  passenger  cars,  they 
succeeded  in  getting  twenty-four  "  shines"  at  5  cents 
each,  or  a  total  of  $1.20.  Some  of  the  men  did  not 
care  for  a  shine,  but  permitted  them  to  earn  the 
money  on  account  of  their  seeming  earnestness. 

This  business  success  set  them  to  thinking,  which 
resulted  in  their  concluding  to  try  and  not  spend  any 
of  the  $300  of  "  damages  money,"  but  to  endeavor  to 
work  their  way  around  the  country.  They  each  had 
$75  sewed  up  on  the  inside  of  their  coats,  and  Sally 
was  to  send  them  the  other  $150  to  San  Francisco. 
So  they  set  their  heads  to  conjuring  up  the  variety 
of  ways  of  earning  money,  and  at  last  concluded  that 
when  the  train  was  moving  they  would  black  boots, 
and  when  it  stopped  they  would  look  after  the  women 
and  children,  and  carry  packages  in  and  out  from  the 
depots  to  the  cars  without  demanding  any  pay,  but 
receiving  any  if  offered.  By  four  o'clock,  when  they 


250  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

reached  Elkhart,  they  had  made  70  cents  by  helping 
others,  and  had  made  themselves  known  to  every 
passenger  on  the  train  excepting  those  in  the  "  Pull- 
mans," where  they  were  not  admitted  and  where  the 
porters  carried  the  packages  and  blackened  the  boots. 

On  arrival  at  Elkhart  they  inquired  the  way  and 
walked  direct  to  the  tissue-paper  mill,  where  the 
superintendent  refused  to  let  them  in.  That  made 
Micky  mad,  and,  sitting  down  on  the  side  of  the  road, 
he  told  Fred  they'd  "  get  even"  with  that  fellow  some 
day,  for  they'd  buy  the  mill  and  discharge  him. 

As  they  were  about  to  leave  Fred  said :  "  Let's  go 
over  to  that  little  building  where  it  says  '  office'  and 
ask  the  president  to  let  us  in."  So  over  both  boys 
went  and  stated  their  errand.  The  president  was  in, 
and  Micky  told  him  that  they  were  in  the  kite  business 
in  Cincinnati,  and  used  tissue-paper,  and  were  on 
their  way  to  San  Francisco.  He  at  first  doubted  them 
and  put  them  down  in  his  mind  for  little  lying  rascals, 
but  later  he  laid  down  his  pen  and  looked  at  them  in 
perfect  surprise.  As  they  seemed  in  dead  earnest  he 
asked  if  they  wanted  to  buy  any  "  tissue"  and  how 
much.  Micky  said  they  wanted  none  then,  as  the  kite 
season  wras  over,  but  next  year  they  would  need  a 
supply;  all  they  wanted  at  present  was  to  know  some- 
thing about  tissue-paper  and  how  it  was  made.  The 
president  was  about  to  tell  them  that  he  allowed  no 
one  to  go  over  the  mill,  but  suddenly  changed  his 
mind,  and,  putting  on  his  hat,  told  them  to  come  with 
him  and  he  would  show  them  around  himself.  There 
was  something  about  the  boys  he  liked,  and  the  more 
questions  he  asked  the  more  was  he  pleased,  and 
smiled  to  himself  at  their  precocious  or  curt  replies. 
In  two  hours'  time  he  showed  them,  and  in  detail  ex- 
plained paper-making  in  a  more  painstaking  manner 
than  he  had  ever  done  before  to  any  visitor  at  the  mill. 
Micky  thought  to  himself  he  would  like  to  own  the 


TRAVEL.  251 

place,  but  nearly  collapsed  when  he  was  informed  that 
it  cost  $150,000. 

The  first  "  tissue"  they  had  purchased  at  retail  in 
Cincinnati  had  cost  them  i  cent  a  sheet,  or  $4.80  per 
ream,  and  they  now  learned  that  if  they  would  buy 
one  hundred  reams,  size  20x30,  at  one  time  they 
could  have  it  at  mill  price,  which  was  50  cents  per 
ream,  2  per  cent,  off  for  cash.  Fred  made  a  memo- 
randum of  it  in  his  book  and  received  a  few  sample 
sheets,  and  after  thanking  the  president  for  his  cour- 
tesy, the  boys  started  for  the  depot  to  take  the  eight 
P.M.  train  for  Detroit,  where  they  had  been  informed 
was  the  largest  match  factory  in  the  country,  and  they 
wanted  to  learn  something  more  about  sticks. 

They  did  not  want  any  sleeping  car.  Oh,  no;  not 
for  them !  Catch  them  paying  two  dollars  for  a  berth ! 
So  they  went  into  a  regular  car  and  agreed  between 
themselves  that  one  should  sleep  for  two  hours  while 
the  other  kept  his  eyes  open  to  see  they  were  not 
robbed,  thus  taking  their  turns  until  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  when  they  reached  Detroit  in  the 
dark,  and  camped  out  in  the  depot  waiting-room  until 
breakfast  time.  They  did  not  want  any  hotel!  Oh, 
no,  not  any  for  them!  Catch  them  paying  $2.50  a  day 
for  a  hotel !  Dukes  could  live  in  hotels  if  they  wanted 
to,  but  Flynn  &  Schmidt  liked  fresh  air,  and  moon- 
light cost  less  than  gas. 

After  breakfast  they  hunted  up  the  match  factory, 
and  the  superintendent  was  so  much  amused  at  their 
earnestness  that  he  let  them  in  and  told  one  of  his  big 
work  boys  to  show  the  "  kids"  the  place. 

The  match  factory  in  Cincinnati  was  only  a  little 
baby  place  compared  with  this  great  establishment, 
and  Micky  had  an  awe  for  Mr.  Richardson,  who  was 
pointed  out  as  the  owner  of  the  place. 

The  whole  establishment  was  shown  to  Messrs. 
Flynn  &  Schmidt,  but  the  department  that  interested 


252  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

them  most  was  the  mountain  of  waste  sticks  that 
could  be  had  for  almost  nothing,  as  the  superinten- 
dent sold  in  their  presence  a  whole  express  wagon 
load  of  them  for  kindling  purposes  for  25  cents.  They 
left  the  match  factory  highly  pleased  with  their  visit, 
for  they  now  knew  there  were  plenty  of  long  sticks  to 
be  had  for  their  future  business,  no  matter  how  ex- 
tensive it  became. 

They  were  quite  delighted  with  Detroit,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  their  lives  saw  a  ship.  The  sight  of  the 
hundreds  of  sail  boats  on  the  river  was  a  beautiful 
revelation,  but  they  had  no  time  or  inclination  to  take 
in  beauty,  so  they  took  the  noon  train  for  Chicago, 
where  they  arrived  at  nine  P.M. 

Chicago  took  away  their  breath;  they  thought  Cin- 
cinnati was  large  enough,  but  after  much  discussion 
they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Cincinnati  "  wasn't 
in  it."  At  first  they  "  run  down"  everything  they  saw, 
and  praised  up  everything  in  their  own  city  by  com- 
parison, but  after  being  in  Chicago  two  days  and  a 
half  they  concluded  it  was  a  good  place  for  the  kite 
business,  as  they  found  out  it  was  windy  there  the 
whole  year  round. 

Their  first  arrival  in  Chicago  was  not  one  of  very 
much  welcome,  for  as  soon  as  they  stepped  out  from 
the  depot  onto  the  street  they  were  arrested  by  a 
policeman  as  suspicious  little  kids  for  having  two  such 
fine,  new-looking  valises  in  their  possession.  The 
"  cop"  would  take  no  explanation,  but  carted  them 
off  to  the  police  station,  where  their  baggage  was  ex- 
amined, and  they  certainly  would  have  been  "  locked 
up"  if  it  had  not  been  for  Mr.  Ingals's  letter.  After 
reading  it,  the  police  sergeant  let  them  go  and  told 
the  policeman  to  show  them  to  the  newsboys'  lodg- 
ing-house, where  they  obtained  a  bed  for  15  cents  per 
night. 

No  two  Doys  ever  saw  more  of  Chicago  in  two  days 


TRAVEL.  253 

than  did  Micky  and  Fred,  and  when  they  left  their 
heads  were  full,  and  one  of  Fred's  note-books  also. 
The  "elevators"  seemed  of  more  importance  than 
anything  else,  as  they  contained  grain,  from  which 
flour  paste  was  made. 

The  next  place  they  started  for  was  Minneapolis. 
They  had  looked  up  tissue-paper  and  sticks,  which 
were  two  important  items  in  their  business,  and  now 
they  wanted  to  know  something  more  about  flour,  as 
paste  was  one  of  the  factors  of  kite-making,  and  they 
had  been  told  the  day  before  that  the  largest  flour 
mills  in  the  world  were  in  Minneapolis. 

They  went  by  the  way  of  Milwaukee,  along  the 
shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  saw  that  vast  body  of 
water,  and  were  impressed.  The  great  ships  with  their 
sails  spread  were  inspiring,  and  they  spent  their  time 
guessing  what  they  were  carrying,  and  where  it  came 
from  and  how  much  it  was  worth. 

All  day  long  they  travelled  along  grain  fields,  and 
through  the  region  of  the  beautiful  and  picturesque 
chain  of  small  lakes  across  Wisconsin.  When  even- 
ing came  they  were  in  Minneapolis.  They  slept  in 
the  station  all  night,  taking  turns  at  their  sentinel 
watchings.  Their  lunch  box  was  now  empty,  and 
they  had  to  pay  for  their  first  meal;  in  fact,  it  was 
about  the  first  meal  they  had  ever  paid  for  in  their 
lives,  as  heretofore  it  was  free  lunch  at  home.  The 
least  they  could  get  a  meal  for  was  25  cents  apiece, 
and  they  were  frightened  when  they  figured  up  that 
three  25-cent  meals  a  day  for  each  of  them  for  sixty 
days  would  amount  to  $90.  The  thought  of  it  almost 
took  away  their  appetites.  The  lunch-counter  man 
took  charge  of  their  valises  while  they  started  out  to 
see  the  town,  and  the  first  thing  they  struck  was  a 
Salvation  Army  meeting.  The  captain  asked  Micky 
if  he  wanted  to  find  the  Saviour,  but  Micky  said  no; 
he  wanted  to  find  Pillsbury's  Flour  Mills.  They 


254  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

kindly  told  how  to  reach  them,  and  that  they  would  be 
open  to  visitors  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at 
which  hour  they  were  promptly  on  hand.  It  was  the 
greatest  factory  or  mill  they  had  ever  seen,  and  when 
they  were  told  that  five  thousand  barrels  of  flour  were 
made  there  every  day,  it  made  them  open  their  eyes  in 
wonder. 

They  walked  out  to  the  Minnehaha  Falls,  and  then 
started  by  trolley  cars  to  St.  Paul,  and  after  inspect- 
ing that  place  to  their  entire  satisfaction,  they  took 
the  six  P.M.  Northern  Pacific  train  for  North  Dakota, 
arriving  there  the  next  morning,  where  they  found 
nothing  but  vast  plains  and  enormous  wheat  fields. 

They  stopped  at  Jamestown,  visited  a  wheat  field 
fifteen  miles  long  and  twelve  miles  wide,  and  satisfied 
themselves  that  there  was  a  sufficient  wheat  supply 
to  make  paste  for  any  size  kite  business  they  could 
establish.  They  left  on  the  four  P.M.  south-bound 
train  for  South  Dakota,  arriving  at  Yankton  at  eight 
A.M.,  and  without  stopping  there,  kept  on  the  same 
train  down  through  Iowa  to  Council  Bluffs,  and  then 
across  the  Missouri  River  to  Omaha,  in  Nebraska, 
seeing  nothing  but  vast  plains  and  millions  of  acres  of 
wheat  and  corn  fields  all  along  the  route. 

From  Omaha  they  went  to  Des  Moines,  la.,  and 
from  there  to  St.  Louis,  arriving  the  next  morning  at 
seven  o'clock. 

They  spent  all  day  in  St.  Louis.  The  main  thing 
they  tried  to  find  was  a  thread  mill,  as  thread  was  the 
only  thing  they  used  in  kite-making  that  they  had  not 
seen  manufactured.  .  They  were  told  that  the  only 
thread  mill  of  any  importance  in  America  was  at 
Newark,  N.  J.,  and  Micky  wanted  to  take  the  evening 
train  and  go  there.  What  is  the  use  of  our  going  any 
farther  west,  anyway?  said  he;  what  is  there  to  see? 
But  after  talking  it  over,  they  concluded  that  as  they 
had  the  passes  they  might  as  well  go  to  the  Pacific 


TRAVEL.  255 

Ocean  and  take  in  the  East  later;  so  that  night  they 
started  for  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  which  they  reached  next 
morning  at  eight  o'clock.  They  walked  for  ten  min- 
utes, and  then  concluded  it  was  too  steep  and  hilly  a 
place  to  do  any  meandering;  so,  getting  onto  a 
"  trolley,"  they  made  transfers  in  all  directions  and 
succeeded  in  seeing  the  whole  town  for  one  fare  each. 

In  Iowa  and  Missouri  they  found  the  country  less 
flat  than  in  Dakota  and  Nebraska ;  but  when  they  left 
Kansas  City,  travelling  across  the  States  of  Kansas 
and  Colorado  for  Denver,  they  once  more  found 
themselves  on  the  great  Western  plains,  and  instead 
of  riding  through  grain  fields,  as  in  the  Dakotas,  they 
found  hundreds  of  horse  and  cattle  ranches  in  every 
direction,  and  for  the  first  time  realized  where  all  the 
beef  came  from  that  people  ate  in  the  East. 

At  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day, 
after  leaving  Kansas  City,  they  saw  looming  up  in  the 
distance,  like  hazy  clouds,  the  peaks  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  which  was  a  delightful  -anticipation  of  a 
coming  change,  as  the  flat,  treeless  plains  were  be- 
coming monotonous.  They  spent  two  hours  in  Den- 
ver, rode  all  over  the  town,  and  then  took  the  seven 
P.M.  train  for  Manitou,  where  they  stayed  all  night. 
At  four  o'clock  the  next  morning  they  started  on  foot 
up  to  the  top  of  Pike's  Peak,  and  then  down  again  by 
nine  P.M.,  when,  tired  out,  they  took  the  eleven  P.M. 
Denver  and  Rio  Grande  train  for  Salt  Lake  City. 

Such  wonderful  high  mountainous  rocks  as  they 
saw  for  the  next  thirty  hours  made  their  heads  dizzy, 
and  they  realized  for  the  first  time  why  the  region  was 
called  the  Rocky  Mountains.  *  They  passed  through 
Leadville  and  Glenwood  Springs,  and  then  over  vast 
deserts  and  high  table-lands,  and  down  into  deep 
gorges,  and  up  through  lofty  passes,  where  there  were 
still  banks  of  snow  in  August.  They  threw  snowballs 
at  one  another;  at  the  stopping  places  they  picked  the 


256  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

wild  raspberries,  and  gathered  wild  flowers  for  the 
ladies,  and  when  from  out  the  long  stretch  of  desert 
they  came  down  into  the  beautiful  Salt  Lake  Valley  of 
Utah,  they  were  happy  and  said  they  were  glad  they 
had  come. 

After  riding  on  the  trolleys  and  walking  all  around 
Salt  Lake  City  for  two  hours,  they  visited  the  great 
Mormon  tabernacle  and  temple,  then  made  a  bee-line 
down  to  the  railroad  for  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  fifteen 
miles  away,  where  they  found  a  first-class  bathing 
resort,  with  all  kinds  of  catch-penny  amusements.  It 
was  a  regular  picnic;  they  hired  bathing  suits  and 
went  in  swimming,  being  surprised  to  find  that  the 
water  was  so  salt  they  could  not  sink  if  they  tried. 
They  floated  around  on  their  backs  and  swam  to  their 
hearts'  delight  for  three  hours,  and  then  took  the  train 
back  to  Salt  Lake  City.  On  the  way  they  met  a  man 
and  his  wife  who  advised  them  to  take  a  ride  out  to 
Fort  Douglas,  a  few  miles  up  the  sloping  mountain  to 
the  east  of  the  city.  They  went,  and  for  the  first  time 
in  Micky's  life  he  was  entranced. 

They  saw  a  sunset  such  as  they  never  dreamed 
could  exist.  There  is  a  silent  corner  in  the  heart  of 
most  stolid  people  which  when  touched  with  some- 
thing specially  beautiful  stirs  up  within  it  emotions 
never  experienced  before.  It  was  so  with  Micky ;  and 
without  knowing  it  he  sat  down  on  the  grass  in  silence 
and  gazed  with  delight,  wonder,  and  almost  awe,  and 
as  the  last  tints  came  softly  to  his  vision  a  few  tears 
trickled  dowTn  his  cheeks,  and  the  only  words  he  spoke 
to  Fred  all  the  way  back  to  the  city  were :  "  I  wish 
mother,  Sally,  and  Ed  and  your  mother  were  here  to 
have  seen  it  with  us." 

That  night  they  took  the  train  for  Beaver  Canon, 
in  Idaho,  and  from  there  took  the  stage  for  Yellow- 
stone Park,  in  Wyoming,  where  they  remained  five 
days,  and  concluded  they  must  be  in  a  locality  that 


TRAVEL.  257 

partook  of  the  nature  of  a  combination  of  both  heaven 
and  hell.  It  was  a  wonderland,  indeed,  and  made  a 
deep  impression  on  their  lives.  When  Micky  saw"  the 
Grand  Canon  of  the  Yellowstone,  with  all  its  wealth 
of  tinting,  he  said  to  Fred  that  the  Salt-Lake-City 
sunset  must  have  floated  to  this  beautiful  valley  and 
settled  down  there  to  stay  forever. 

From  the  Yellowstone  Park  they  went  northward 
to  Livingstone,  in  Montana,  and  took  the  railroad  to 
Butte,  visiting  the  great  silver  smelters,  and  then 
travelled  southward  to  Pocatello,  in  Idaho,  where  they 
changed  cars  for  Shoshone  Falls,  whose  beauty  is  un- 
rivalled. Before  leaving  the  locality  of  the  falls  they 
visited  a  beautiful  deep  little  valley  called  the  Blue 
Lake  Valley,  and  found  hidden  down  there  a  peach 
orchard  oasis  amid  the  general  surrounding  sage- 
brush desert.  It  was  a  charming  spot  and  they  wanted 
to  stay,  but  off  they  started  again  for  Ogden,  in  Utah, 
and  took  the  railroad  through  Nevada  and  California 
for  San  Francisco. 

They  stopped  at  Carson  City  on  the  way  and  went 
down  into  the  Hale  &  Norcross  mine  on  the  great 
Comstock  lode.  They  were  lowered  in  a  large  iron 
bucket,  one  straight  downward  plunge  of  three  thou- 
sand five  hundred  feet,  and  it  was  so  hot  down  there 
that  in  the  water  that  trickled  from  the  ceiling  an  egg 
could  be  boiled  in  three  minutes.  They  saw  the  place 
from  where  $200,000,000  of  gold  and  silver  had  been 
taken,  and  after  getting  over  their  astonishment  they 
went  into  the  famous  Sutro  tunnel  to  cool  off. 

Forward  once  more  they  started  for  San  Francisco, 
passing  up  and  over  the  beautiful  Sierra  Mountains, 
through  miles  and  miles  of  snow-sheds  and  great 
stretches  of  beautiful  scenery,  until  at  last  they  came 
down  in  one  steep  ride  from  the  sterile  high  mountain 
tops  to  the  green  valleys  and  vine-clad  hills  of  Cali- 
fornia the  golden,  with  milk  and  honey  blest,  and  at 


258  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

last  reached  Oakland  and  then  across  the  bay  to  San 
Francisco. 

The  Pacific  coast  will  ever  remain  a  great  memory 
to  those  two  boys,  as  "  they  struck  it  rich,"  for  on  the 
cars  they  attracted  the  attention  of  a  lecture-bureau 
agent,  and  he  was  so  taken  with  their  originality  and 
their  wonderful  fund  of  information  garnered  from 
Ed's  talks  on  political  economy,  and  especially  the 
silver  question,  that  he  conceived  of  a  brilliant  idea, 
which  was  none  other  than  to  put  the  boys  on  the 
stage  for  an  evening's  entertainment,  and  they  were 
to  have  $25  a  night  and  expenses.  Micky  and  Fred 
at  first  thought  the  man  was  "  jollying"  them,  but  at 
last  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  really  in 
earnest. 

Neither  of  the  boys  had  ever  heard  a  lecture  of  any 
kind,  and  wanted  to  know  what  they  were  to  do,  and 
when  they  found  out  that  they  were  to  have  $25  for 
talking  for  an  hour  and  a  half  each  evening,  they 
laughed  at  it,  and  said  it  was  a  "  dead  easy  way"  to 
make  money,  and  commenced  to  talk  up  what  to  say. 

The  agent  made  notes  of  their  conversation,  then 
selecting  certain  subjects  and  posting  the  boys  what 
to  do,  announced  the  subject  as  "  What  Two  Kids 
Saw  and  Heard  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean." 

When  Micky  and  Fred  saw  their  names  advertised 
for  the  next  evening  at  the  Methodist  Church  in  Ale- 
meda,  they  took  the  paper  upstairs  to  their  hotel  room 
and,  after  locking  the  door,  laid  down  on  the  bed  and 
rolled  over  and  laughed  until  their  sides  ached,  and 
then  they  spent  all  the  afternoon  arranging  what  they 
should  say  and  how  to  say  it. 

•The  boys  made  a  great  "  hit,"  as  every  boy  in  the 
town  attended.  The  agent  was  more  than  pleased, 
and  when  he  paid  them  their  first  $25  they  went  back 
to  the  hotel  room,  and  Fred  whispered  in  Micky's  ear, 


TRAVEL.  259 

for  fear  some  one  might  overhear  him,  "  What  a  lot 
of  blooming  idiots  people  are  to  pay  25  cents  or  50 
cents  apiece  to  hear  us  talk  for  an  hour  and  a  half!" 
And  then  Micky  very  seriously  said :  "  Never  you 
mind,  Fred;  before  we  die  that  agent  will  be  glad  to 
pay  us  $1000  a  night  to  talk  half  as  long;"  and  so 
it  was. 

The  agent  kept  his  word  with  the  boys,  and  paid 
them  $250  for  ten  nights.  They  spoke  at  different 
places,  from  San  Francisco  up  through  California  and 
Oregon  and  Washington  to  Vancouver  and  Victoria, 
in  British  Columbia,  and  from  the  latter  place  they 
had  their  expenses  paid  by  steamer  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean  back  to  San  Francisco,  whence  they  took  the 
railroad  for  Los  Angeles,  stopping  first  at  Del  Monte, 
the  beautiful,  and  then  at  the  Yosemite  Valley  and  the 
big  trees. 

Fred  said  the  big  trees  were  regular  sky  scrapers, 
but  when  the  guide  said  some  of  them  were  three 
thousand  years  old  he  forever  lost  his  reputation  for 
veracity  with  the  boys. 

But  if  the  big  trees  startled  them,  what  can  be  said 
of  their  condition  of  mind  when  for  the  first  time  they 
gazed  on  that  valley  of  all  valleys  on  the  face  of  the 
earth?  They  had  no  command  of  language  to  give 
vent  to  their  feelings,  and  all  they  could  do  was  to 
hold  their  breath  and  remain  silent  and  at  last  finish 
a  long-drawn  sigh  with  the  exclamations,  Oh !  Oh ! 
Oh!  They  left  Yosemite  with  many  regrets,  and 
Micky  said  to  Fred  that  if  he  only  knew  how  to  talk 
like  Ed  he  could  give  a  lecture  in  a  big  hall  about  that 
beautiful  Yosemite  Valley  that  would  be  worth  $25  a 
seat. 

Southern  California  was  a  charming  land  to  the 
boys,  and  they  now  had  awakened  in  them  in  a  high 
degree  their  latent  love  of  the  beautiful,  but  that  did 
not  distract  them  from  business,  for  they  "  shined" 


26O  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

boots  and  carried  baskets  and  helped  the  women  and 
children  more  than  ever;  and  when  they  left  Los 
Angeles  they  found  they  had  their  original  $300  un- 
touched and  $102  left  of  their  earned  money  still  in 
the  treasury,  and  Fred  had  twenty-three  small  blank 
books  full  of  memoranda. 

From  Los  Angeles  they  turned  their  backs  to  the 
setting  sun,  and  started  eastward  on  their  homeward 
journey.  For  two  days  and  nights  they  travelled 
across  the  high  table-lands  of  Arizona  and  New  Mex- 
ico, the  whole  route  being  treeless  excepting  for  a  few 
giant  cactus  trees  and  dwarfed  oaks  and  sage  brush. 

At  El  Paso,  while  the  train  was  waiting,  they  crossed 
for  half  an  hour  into  Mexico,  and  then  resumed  their 
journey  over  the  great  plains  of  Texas  to  Fort  Worth. 
Thence  they  went  northward  to  Oklahoma  and  Indian 
Territory,  where  they  saw  enough  Indians  to  last 
them  a  lifetime. 

From  Tahlequah  they  went  across  Arkansas 
through  Little  Rock  to  Memphis,  from  where  they 
took  a  three  days'  steamboat  ride  down  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  passing  sugar  plantations  and  cotton 
fields,  to  New  Orleans,  where  they  remained  two  days, 
and  started  for  Florida  across  Mississippi  and  Ala- 
bama. 

From  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  they  went  northward  to 
Washington,  and  remained  two  days,  and  among 
other  things  got  in  a  long  line  of  visitors  and  shook 
hands  with  the  President. 

The  Capitol  was  just  their  ideal  of  the  greatest 
building  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  but  the  contents  of 
the  Patent  Office  were  to  both  boys  the  best  sight  in 
the  city. 

They  next  started  for  Baltimore  and  Wilmington, 
Del.,  at  which  latter  place  they  took  side  trips  to  the 
Naval  Academy  and  saw  the  cadets,  then  visited  the 
great  iron  shipbuilding  yards  at  Chester. 


TRAVEL.  26l 

They  next  started  for  Philadelphia,  and  were  over- 
whelmed with  the  size  of  the  place,  and  from  there 
went  up  to  Scranton  and  down  in  the  coal  mines,  and 
then  across  New  Jersey  to  some  famous  iron  mines, 
and  then  at  last  to  New  York. 

By  the  time  they  reached  the  metropolis  they  were 
veteran  travellers  and  afraid  of  nobody,  and  remained 
there  five  days,  and  what  they  did  not  see  that  referred 
to  business  was  not  worth  visiting.  Fred  used  up  four 
memorandum  books,  one  of  which  was  devoted  ex- 
clusively to  Coney  Island. 

On  the  last  day  in  New  York  they  went  over  to 
Newark,  N.  J.,  and  visited  the  great  Clark  thread 
works,  and  were  shown  over  the  place  through  a  card 
of  introduction  given  them  by  a  man  they  met  in 
Texas  who  travelled  for  the  mills.  They  also  visited 
in  New  Jersey  the  sugar  and  oil  refineries  and  smelt- 
ing works. 

New  York  nearly  set  the  boys  crazy.  When  they 
were  in  Chicago  they  voted  it  the  greatest  place  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  but  Micky  now  said  that  New 
York  "  took  the  cake."  Everything  was  so  clean;  and 
the  business  men  rushed  around  as  if  they  had  only 
five  minutes  more  to  live;  the  streets  were  jammed 
full  of  trucks  loaded  down  with  business,  and  the 
steamships  were  nearly  a  sixth  of  a  mile  long.  Every- 
thing was  so  inspiring  that  both  boys  in  one  breath 
said :  "  This  is  the  place  for  me." 

They  left  New  York  with  many  regrets  and  started 
for  New  England,  where  they  remained  ten  days,  visit- 
ing all  manner  and  kinds  of  mills  and  factories,  includ- 
ing cotton,  woollen,  locomotive,  jewelry,  brass,  screw, 
pin,  machinery,  paper,  boot  and  shoe,  shipbuilding,  etc. 

They  first  went  to  Hartford,  Providence,  and  Bos- 
ton. Farther  on  they  reached  Augusta,  Me.  To  the 
west  wrere  the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire, 
where  they  ascended  Mt.  Washington.  From  this 


262  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

their  road  was  across  Vermont  up  to  Montreal,  Can- 
ada, and  then  down  to  Rochester  and  Niagara  Falls. 
South  was  Pittsburgh  where  they  visited  the  great  iron 
and  steel  mills,  and  still  farther  south  was  West  Vir- 
ginia, having  many  coal  mines.  Across  they  went 
through  the  blue-grass  region  of  Kentucky,  and  then 
one  more  and  last  ride  down  to  Cincinnati  and  home, 
where  the  boys'  mothers  and  Sally  and  Ed  were  wait- 
ing for  them  at  the  depot  to  welcome  them  back  to 
the  birthplace  of  the  great  kite  trust. 

If  there  was  any  one  thing  more  than  another  in- 
delibly impressed  on  Fred's  mind  regarding  the  trip, 
it  was  everything  connected  with  transportation. 

His  early  experience  in  running  the  stage  and  ex- 
press wagon  in  the  village  of  Lotus  was  only  a  pre- 
monition of  what  was  to  follow  later  in  life.  He  ever 
seemed  happiest  and  at  home  when  talking  about  or 
engaged  on  any  means  of  transit. 

During  this  trip  he  talked  with  every  railroad  em- 
ploye who  would  listen  to  him;  he  rode  with  the  en- 
gineers, helped  the  firemen  to  brighten  the  engine, 
learned  the  names  of  every  part  of  a  locomotive,  and 
made  a  fair  working  drawing  of  one,  which  was  used 
by  him  for  comparison  with  other  styles  he  saw  in 
different  parts  of  the  country. 

He  learned  all  about  rails,  ties,  brakes,  freight  cars, 
mileage,  switches,  bridges,  signals,  and  commercial 
terms  and  papers  used  in  shipping,  and  wrote  down 
a  list  of  sixty-three  various  wordings  used  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  for  expressing  danger,  such  as 
"Railroad  crossing,  beware  of  the  engine;"  "Look 
out  for  the  locomotive  when  the  whistle  blows ;"  "  Be- 
ware of  the  cars;"  "  Look  out  for  the  engine,"  etc. 

Micky  left  the  transportation  business  entirely  to 
Fred,  who  was  devoted  to  mentally  grasping  quan- 
tities. As  he  passed  through  a  village  he  "  sized  it 
up"  as  to  how  high  a  solid  pile  the  whole  place  would 


TRAVEL.  263 

make,  and  what  it  was  composed  of,  and  how  much  it 
was  worth,  and  after  considerable  practice  he  could  in 
five  minutes  say  offhand  about  any  place  that  it  had 
a  value  of  a  certain  number  of  thousands  of  dollars. 
He  asked  questions  by  the  thousand,  and  was  earnestly 
interested  in  finding  out  just  what  the  people  manufac- 
tured or  dealt  in  at  every  railroad  town. 

They  had  been  gone  eighty  days,  instead  of  sixty,  as 
originally  intended,  and  had  visited  every  principal 
city  and  each  State  and  Territory  in  the  Union  ex- 
cepting Alaska,  and  had  also  been  in  British  Colum- 
bia, Mexico,  and  Canada.  They  brought  back  their 
entire  damage  money  of  $300  untouched,  and  $27 
cash  in  their  pockets — all  that  was  left  of  $468  they 
had  made  on  their  journey ;  $250  of  this  were  proceeds 
from  their  lecturing  tour  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

Their  excuses  for  absence  from  school  were  related 
to  the  principal,  who  admitted  the  boys  to  their  regu- 
lar grade  and  allowed  them  to  make  up  back  lessons. 

Fred  made  up  the  expense  account  of  the  trip  and 
entered  it  on  the  books  of  the  firm  of  Flynn  & 
Schmidt,  and  gave  the  $27  left,  and  also  the  $300 
damage  money  to  Sally,  who  deposited  it  in  the  bank 
to  the  credit  of  the  firm. 

Ed  reported  the  full  particulars  of  the  trip,  includ- 
ing the  financial  results,  to  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts, 
who  reported  it  to  Mr.  Ingals,  and  he  told  it  to  Murat 
Halsted,  who  wrote  an  account  of  the  trip  for  the  Cin- 
cinnati Commercial.  This  made  Flynn  &  Schmidt  for 
a  few  weeks  the  most  famous  boys  in  the  city,  and 
added  more  than  a  little  to  the  success  of  their  next 
season's  kite  business. 

Travelling  is  a  great  schooling,  and  this  extended 
trip,  with  its  garnered  wealth  of  information,  was  a 
great  factor  in  the  successful  future  of  Flynn  & 
Schmidt,  which  in  the  end  proved  such  a  blessing  to 
mankind. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

PROGRESSION. 

THE  fall  and  winter  succeeding  the  first  kite  season 
was  devoted  to  hard  study.  Both  Micky  and  Fred  were 
among  the  head  scholars  in  their  respective  rooms. 
Mrs.  Flynn  and  Mrs.  Schmidt  worked  harder  than 
ever,  and  were  as  much  if  not  more  interested  in  Flynn 
&  Schmidt's  savings-bank  account  than  were  the  two 
boys  themselves.  Not  a  penny  of  it  was  drawn  out; 
the  firm  had  their  board  and  clothes  free,  the  same 
as  from  their  babyhood.  Every  week  Sally  figured  out 
how  much  additional  interest  had  accumulated. 

An  old  man  in  the  neighborhood  taught  the  boys 
to  cane  chairs,  and  all  the  spare  time  they  had  was 
employed  in  soliciting  and  working  on  such  jobs.  When 
March  of  the  next  year  rolled  around  they  had  made 
net  from  that  source  and  added  to  their  savings  ac- 
count $62.84. 

Micky  became  very  much  interested  in  the  subject 
of  bamboo  and  rattan.  It  worried  him  to  pay  so  much 
for  the  split  cane,  and  Ed  had  to  furnish  all  sorts  of 
information  regarding  India  and  other  sources  of  cane 
supply.  Before  two  months  had  passed  the  price  of 


PROGRESSION.  265 

days'  labor,  the  quantity  a  native  could  gather  in  a  day, 
the  price  laid  down  in  Bombay,  the  ocean  freight  to 
New  York,  the  cost  of  handling  it  there,  the  transporta- 
tion to  Cincinnati,  and  everything  else  connected  with 
its  advance  in  value  was  tabulated,  and  when  all  was 
added  up  Micky  found  out  that  the  Cincinnati  dealer 
was  charging  about  three  hundred  per  cent,  profit  on 
the  split  cane.  Then  Micky  became  wroth,  and  wrote 
to  one  of  the  boys  he  had  met  in  New  York,  asking 
him  to  go  down  to  the  India  wharf  and  find  out  who 
imported  cane,  and  to  ask  the  man  if  he  would  sell  five 
dollars'  worth.  Micky  accomplished  his  object,  and 
received  by  express  C.  O.  D.  as  much  for  his  $5  as  he 
could  have  bought  in  Cincinnati  for  $18.  The  New 
York  shipment  lasted  them  all  the  rest  of  the  winter, 
and  a  large  quantity  was  left  over  for  next  season. 

Every  Saturday  night  was  devoted  to  a  talk  or  lec- 
ture by  Ed  on  some  subject  previously  asked  for.  Mrs. 
Flynn  allowed  them  on  these  evenings  to  sit  in  the 
dining-room,  instead  of  the  cellar ;  Mrs.  Schmidt  made 
it  a  point  to  always  accept  an  invitation  to  be  present, 
and  both  she  and  Mrs.  Flynn  would  sit  over  in  the 
corner  in  most  respectful  silence  and  listen  to  the  con- 
versation of  the  children.  Lemonade  and  cake,  at  the 
expense  of  Mrs.  Flynn,  were  always  a  part  of  the  occa- 
sion. They  entered  heartily  into  all  the  questions, 
cross-questions,  debates,  and  disputes  the  young  people 
had  with  one  another,  and  especially  with  Ed,  who 
seemed  to  perfectly  daze  the  two  old  ladies  with  his 
never-ending  supply  of  wisdom.  Not  once  did  they 
open  their  mouths  during  the  whole  winter,  except  one 
evening  when  Mrs.  Webster  was  invited  to  come. 

It  was  a  proud  thing  for  Mrs.  Flynn  to  have  Mrs. 
Webster  for  a  guest,  for  although  Mrs.  Webster  was 
poor  and  sewed  for  a  living,  still  both  of  these  humble 
washerwomen  regarded  her  as  a  great  lady.  They  had 
learned  of  her  early  history  and  her  misfortune  and  her 


266  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

present  proud  struggle  for  a  living  for  herself  and  boy, 
and  although  they  were  all  three  on  a  level  as  to  worldly 
goods,  yet  both  of  the  others  felt  that  there  was  a  vast 
difference  because  of  her  mental  superiority  and  birth, 
and  because  she  was  the  mother  of  such  a  wonderful 
son. 

Mrs.  Webster  had  never  recovered  from  the  mental 
strain  that  had  unfitted  her  for  a  more  advanced  means 
of  livelihood  than  that  of  sewing.  Still  she  was  cheer- 
ful and  happy,  and  on  that  particular  evening  she  was 
more  than  agreeable ;  her  old-time  girlhood  came  back 
and  enabled  her  to  direct  the  company  into  one  of 
jollification  for  the  children  as  well  as  for  the  mothers. 

A  variety  of  games  and  fun  were  started ;  Mrs. 
Flynn  and  Mrs.  Schmidt  afterward  voted  it  one  of  the 
happiest  evenings  of  their  lives,  and  Sally  made  a  new 
friend,  for  Mrs.  Webster  at  leaving  put  her  arms 
around  the  young  girl  and  gave  her  a  kiss  that  went 
direct  to  Sally's  heart  as  a  kiss  had  never  done  before. 
That  kiss  was  the  beginning  of  a  lifelong  friendship. 
Mrs.  Webster  invited  Sally  to  come  to  her  room  the 
next  afternoon,  and  thi.s  resulted  in  her  going  again 
and  again,  until  hardly  a  day  passed  that  Sally  was  not 
a  welcomed  visitor  at  the  side  of  Ed's  mother. 

It  meant  everything  to  Sally,  for  little  by  little  her 
life  was  influenced  by  that  refinement  that  always  flows 
from  contact  with  a  pure,  good  woman  of  unostenta- 
tious but  sound  education.  Sally  was  a  good  imitator 
as  well  as  a  good  scholar,  and  she  longed  to  imbibe  into 
her  own  nature  the  modest  simplicity  that  emanates 
from  a  life  that  is  not  naturally  overbold. 

Sally's  visits  proved  a  confirmation  to  Mrs.  Webster 
of  the  old  adage,  that  when  you  help  others  you  help 
yourself;  for  one  afternoon,  when  the  subject  of  accom- 
plishments was  talked  on,  Sally  spoke  of  her  prizes  at 
school  for  drawing,  and  expressed  a  wish  that  she  could 
paint,  for  she  wanted  to  be  an  artist.  "  Then  I  will 


PROGRESSION.  267 

try  and  teach  you,"  replied  Mrs.  Webster,  to  Sally's 
astonishment,  for  she  had  no  idea  of  being  in  the  pres- 
ence of  one  who  knew  how.  But  Ed's  mother  had  been 
quite  an  amateur  in  her  schooldays  and  early  married 
life;  like  her  music  and  languages,  all  had  drifted  from 
her  in  the  early  stages  of  her  deep  sorrow;  and  in 
attempting  to  teach  Sally,  her  old  accomplishment  re- 
turned, and  she  eventually  found  an  additional  source 
of  income  to  that  of  sewing,  and  it  became  such  a  relief 
to  her  to  change  from  one  occupation  to  another  for 
rest. 

She  had  spent  two  years  of  her  schooldays  in  France, 
and  was  formerly  quite  proficient  in  French.  So,  to 
start  her  boy  in  the  modern  tongues,  she  proposed  to 
Ed  and  Sally  to  have  a  French  class  of  one  hour  every 
other  day.  This  plan  was  hailed  with  delight  by  both, 
and  before  the  winter  was  over  they  had  made  a  good 
beginning.  Sally  was  very  bright,  but  she  soon  dis- 
covered by  comparison  what  a  quick  mind  Ed  had,  and 
how  much  advantage  he  had  over  her  by  being  pro- 
ficient in  Latin,  of  which  she  knew  nothing;  but  that 
spurred  her  on  to  extra  study,  for  she  would  almost 
rather  die  than  have  Ed  think  for  one  moment  that  she 
was  dull. 

Mrs.  Webster  soon  began  to  feel  Sally's  visit  a  neces- 
sity, as  it  was  a  gleam  of  sunshine  in  her  self-imposed 
lonely  life.  She  watched  Sally  very  carefully,  and 
often  wondered  at  the  sweet,  winning  ways  and  un- 
usually bright  mind  that  could  come  from  such  a 
shanty  on  the  rocks  as  the  home  of  the  Flynns ;  but  she 
soon  learned  to  love  her  and  looked  with  much  interest 
on  the  budding  friendship  with  her  only  child.  Mrs. 
Webster  had  been  born  to  luxury,  but  during  these  late 
years  was  being  baptized  in  the  sorrow  and  want  of  the 
breadwinners  among  the  lowly. 

Micky  did  not  take  very  kindly  to  Sally's  French ; 
but  as  it  was  a  gathering  in  of  knowledge  that  he  might 


268  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

some  day  want  to  avail  himself  of,  he  at  last  selfishly 
encouraged  her  in  it. 

When  the  first  of  March  arrived,  and  the  new  kite 
season  was  about  to  open,  Sally  took  the  savings  book 
to  the  bank  and  had  the  interest  to  date  added,  and  on 
'that  evening  handed  it  to  the  partners,  who  found  that 
they  had  a  good  cash  capital  with  which  to  commence 
another  year's  kite  manufacturing.  A  million  dollars 
did  not  look  as  large  to  a  Vanderbilt  as  that  sum  of 
money  seemed  to  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt. 

In  February  the  match  factory  on  Wade  Street  was 
visited  every  Saturday  by  Flynn  &  Schmidt,  and  all 
the  broken  sticks  of  sufficient  length  that  could  be  gath- 
ered were  carried  home  and  piled  up  in  one  corner  of 
the  cellar. 

Fred  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  president  of  the  Elk- 
hart  tissue-paper  mills.  It  was  very  carefully  worded, 
and  copied  three  times  before  it  was  allowed  to  go. 
Sally  helped  in  its  composition  and  corrected  the  spell- 
ing, all  of  which  was  submitted  to  Ed  for  approval. 
It  started  out  with  thanks  for  the  courtesy  shown  them 
when  at  Elkhart,  gave  a  condensed  account  of  their 
travels  around  the  United  States  after  leaving  Indiana, 
and  wound  up  by  asking  if  the  mill  would  not  sell  the 
firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  ten  reams  of  "  tissue"  (two 
reams  each  of  five  different  colors)  at  the  one-hundred- 
ream  price  (fifty  cents  per  ream)  that  had  been  quoted 
to  them  when  at  Elkhart. 

The  boys  were  made  very  happy  on  receipt  of  a  long 
typewritten  .letter,  enclosing  an  invoice  and  bill  of 
lading  for  the  paper  wanted,  and  of  still  greater  delight 
were  the  encouraging  words  addressed  to  them  by  the 
writer;  but  their  joy  knew  no  bounds  when  they  found 
that  the  president  had  shipped  an  extra  hundred  pounds 
of  small,  irregularly  torn  tissue  sheets,  the  waste  product 
of  the  mill,  and  had  charged  only  one  cent  per  pound, 
or  at  the  rate  of  seven  cents  per  ream,  which  was  the 


PROGRESSION.  269 

price  it  was  worth  to  the  mill  to  treat  or  manufacture 
over  again  into  the  larger  or  full-sized  sheets. 

Then  they  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  foreman  of 
Clark's  Mills  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  referring  to  their  visit 
and  thanking  him  for  his  kindness  to  them  and  calling 
his  attention  to  the  quantity  of  "  ends,"  or  waste  pieces 
of  thread  from  one  to  eight  or  ten  yards  long,  that  they 
saw  in  the  spool-winding  rooms,  and  wanted  to  know 
if  they  could  buy  for  their  kite  business  five  or  ten 
pounds  of  it,  and  at  what  price.  After  three  weeks 
a  reply  came  from  the  sales  office  in  New  York  "'  that 
they  never  sold  it,  but  considering  the  boys  wanted  it 
for  a  new  industry  (kites),  they  would  make  an  excep- 
tion to  the  rule,  and  had  shipped  twenty-five  pounds  of 
the  waste  free  of  charge,  and  hoped  it  would  fill  the 
long-felt  want."  This  was  more  than  the  boys  ex- 
pected, and  a  very  profuse  letter  of  thanks  was  sent  to 
Broadway,  New  York.  Upon  arrival  the  package  of 
thread  was  opened,  and  the  evenings  of  a  week  were 
spent  in  unravelling  the  tangles  and  winding  the  pieces 
on  the  empty  spools  of  last  year  that  fortunately  had 
been  saved  and  not  thrown  away  as  useless.  Micky 
made  the  remark,  not  altogether  new,  "  Waste  not, 
want  not,"  and  Fred  replied  that  the  waste  thread  from 
the  mills  and  the  wasted  spools  from  the  thread  would 
now  waste  no  time  in  becoming  very  twining  friends. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

MONEY. 

THERE  is  a  wrong  impression  floating  around  the 
world  that  there  is  not  enough  money  with  which  to 
do  business,  whereas  there  is  more  than  enough.  In 
fact,  it  is  not  absolutely  necessary  to  have  half  or  a 
quarter  of  that  which  is  at  present  in  existence,  as  all 
it  is  good  for  is  to  act  as  a  convenience  in  exchange. 

In  olden  times,  if  a  man  wanted  to  go  to  a  foreign 
country  for  pleasure  or  business,  he  had  to  embark  in 
what  we  would  now  call  a  little  fishing  boat,  as  there 
were  no  large  vessels  in  those  days;  and  he  would 
take  his  gold  or  silver  coin  with  him  in  a  leather 
bag,  similar  to  one  of  our  railroad  mail  pouches,  and 
he  would  be  sure  to  keep  his  eye  on  it  all  day  and  use  it 
for  a  pillow  at.  night-time,  or  he  would  take  a  couple  of 
trusted  slaves  along  to  carry  it,  each  taking  his  turn 
in  guarding  it  while  the  other  slept.  In  these  days  the 
traveller  puts  only  a  handful  of  coins  in  his  pocket, 
and  with  the  rest  or  great  bulk  of  his  funds  he  buys 
a  small  piece  of  paper  called  a  draft,  or  a  letter  of  credit, 
and  gives  himself  no  special  concern  as  to  its  safety, 
as  the  piece  of  paper  is  payable  to  him  and  to  no  one 


MONEY.  271 

else.  It  is  so  light  that  he  can  carry  it  in  his  vest 
pocket,  and  it  may  call  for  half  a  million  dollars,  which 
is  more  gold  than  twenty  slaves  could  have  carried  in 
the  olden  times. 

If  a  man  of  to-day  bought  a  draft  on  London  or 
Calcutta  for  $10,000,  he  no  doubt  paid  for  it  with  his 
check,  drawn  on  the  bank  where  he  keeps  his  account, 
and  thus  no  coin  or  bills  or  actual  money  was  tfsed  in 
the  transaction.  In  order  to  draw  the  check  on  his 
bank  to  pay  for  the  draft,  he  first  had  to  have  that 
$10,000  there  to  his  credit.  That  was  all  right,  for  he 
possibly  had  sold  some  Government  bonds  for  $10,000, 
for  which  he  had  received  a  check,  which  he  had  de- 
posited in  his  bank,  and  thus  that  part  of  the  transaction 
required  no  coin  or  bank-notes. 

When  he  bought  that  draft  on  London  or  Calcutta 
the  only  occasion  he  had  for  any  thought  in  the  matter 
was  to  have  confidence  in  the  banker  with  whom  he 
transacted  the  business,  and  also  to  have  an  honorable 
reputation  himself,  that  the  banker  might  have  confi- 
dence in  him.  Thus,  the  modern  system  of  finance 
and  trade  is  based  upon  the  confidence  one  man  has  in 
another.  Integrity  is  the  corner-stone  of  the  present 
business  system. 

Hundreds  of  millions  and,  in  fact,  billions  of  gold 
and  silver  coin  used  to  be  hoarded  and  hidden  away  in 
odd  places  and  secret  drawers  in  bureaus  or  buried 
in  the  earth  in  tin  or  copper  cans,  so  as  to  keep  it  safe 
from  thieves  and  to  have  the  money  handy  when 
wanted ;  but  to-day,  with  comparatively  few  exceptions, 
the  economical  people  put  away  their  money  in  savings 
banks  and  receive  interest  for  it,  instead  of  burying  it 
in  the  earth,  where  it  was  formerly,  doing  no  one  any 
good  and  being  unnecessarily  locked  up  from  circula- 
tion. A  bank  may  have  $10,000,000  of  deposited 
money  and  not  have  a  tithe  of  that  much  in  coin  or  bills 
on  hand.  The  officers  of  the  institution  have  loaned 


2/2  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

most  of  it  out  on  interest,  where  it  can  be  doing  busi- 
ness men  some  good,  which  is  a  great  improvement  on 
the  old  plan.  While  the  depositors  formerly  buried  it 
in  the  ground  or  hid  it  in  cupboards,  now  it  is  continu- 
ally passed  from  one  person  to  another,  instead  of 
being  buried,  and  consequently  so  much  is  not  required 
for  the  world's  use. 

The  new  system  of  not  handling  money,  but  drawing- 
checks  on  banl^s,  is  every  season  coming  more  and 
more  into  use,  and  in  the  last  few  years  a  great  change 
has  taken  place  even  in  household  or  family  expense 
accounts,  for  which  a  separate  bank  account  is  kept 
in  the  wife's  or  husband's  name,  and  small  checks 
as  low  in  amount  as  fifty  cents  are  now  drawn  to  pay 
for  bills  that  no  one  formerly  thought  of  settling  for 
except  in  silver  change.  One  of  the  great  advantages 
is  that  checks  when  endorsed  act  as  receipts,  and  in 
many  other  ways  it  is  a  more  business-like  manner  of 
spending  money. 

Some  factories,  to  avoid  handling  gold  or  silver  or 
greenbacks,  pay  a  check  to  each  workman  for  his 
week's  wages,  who  in  turn  pays  it  to  his  grocer  on 
account  of  goods  bought.  The  retail  grocer  having 
received  in  one  day  twenty,  thirty,  or  fifty  of  such 
checks  from  various  customers,  deposits  them  in  his 
bank,  and  then  he  in  turn  draws  his  check  on  the  bank 
and  pays  the  importers  or  producers  from  whom  he 
buys  his  goods,  and  they  in  turn  deposit  all  the  checks 
they  receive  in  their  bank,  drawing  their  own  checks 
and  paying  the  factories  or  sending  drafts  to  foreign 
countries  to  pay  for  the  imported  goods.  In  all  these 
transactions  no  actual  money  is  used  or  needed.  Busi- 
ness men  also  pay  checks  for  salaries  to  their  book- 
keepers, salesmen,  and  clerks,  who  immediately  deposit 
these  checks  to  their  credit  in  some  bank,  so  as  to  be 
able  to  draw  their  own  checks  for  their  household  and 
personal  expenses  as  before  mentioned.  The  govern- 


MONEY.  273 

ment  departments  pay  by  checks,  even  if  the  amount  is 
as  low  as  one  cent. 

In  this  manner  very  little  actual  money,  in  compari- 
son with  years  gone  by,  is  needed,  excepting  for  car- 
fares and  small  expenses;  and  checks  answer  every 
practical  purpose  where  formerly  money  had  to  be 
passed  from  hand  to  hand. 

There  is  as  much  actual  money,  in  fact,  more,  in  the 
country  than  there  was  ten  years  ago ;  but  in  that  ten 
years  there  is  a  great  reduction  in  the  amount  of  coin 
or  bills  that  people  actually  use  or  carry  in  their 
pockets.  In  its  place  the  increase  in  the  number  of 
checks  passing  through  the  clearing  house  is  enormous. 
Business  men  and  firms  who  formerly  had  a  pride  in 
never  signing  a  check  for  less  than  $100  or  $1000  have 
now  broken  away  from  such  foolishness,  and  will  pay 
a  small  bill  of  $i  or  even  less  with  a  check. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  check  system  will  be  more 
fully  adopted,  as  it  is  the  most  correct  way  of  doing 
business,  a  written  record  thus  being  kept  of  every 
transaction. 

Ten  men  can  start  a  bank  with  $100,000  capital. 
They  do  not  have  to  hand  in  the  whole  $100,000  in 
money.  Each  one  of  the  ten  men  gives  a  check  for 
$10,000  on  his  former  bank  for  his  proportion,  and  the 
whole  amount  in  checks  is  deposited  in  some  other  bank 
until  they  can  get  the  new  banking  office  fitted  up  and 
ready  to  do  business.  The  first  day  that  they  open  the 
doors  of  the  new  bank  they  take  in  from  the  new 
customers  $1000  in  bills  and  gold  and  silver  and 
$25,000  in  checks  on  other  banks.  The  second  day 
they  take  in  $500  in  cash  and  $50,000  in  checks ;  they 
also  loan  $50,000  to  various  customers,  and  none  of 
this  last-mentioned  $50,000  of  discounts  or  loans  is 
necessarily  drawn  out  in  bills  or  coin,  for  the  amounts 
of  the  loans  are  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  various 
customers  and  they  draw  their  checks  against  them. 


274  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

The  banks  are  required  by  law  to  keep  a  reserve  or 
certain  amount  of  cash  on  hand,  but  it  is  seldom  found 
necessary  that  as  much  as  that  sum  should  be  there. 
The  real  good  this  "  reserve"  does  is  to  give  an  appear- 
ance of  strength  to  the  institution ;  but  it  is  only  an 
apparent  strength,  as  the  real  stability  of  the  bank  is  in 
the  honesty  of  the  officers  and  employes  and  the  good 
business  judgment  of  its  managers  or  board  of  direct- 
ors. The  actual  money  on  hand  does  not  count  for 
much;  the  real  foundation  of  confidence  is  integrity 
and  the  genius  for  banking  of  the  bankers  themselves. 

Some  banks  that  do  business  in  the  wholesale  locali- 
ties handle  very  little  cash.  They  might  receive  as 
deposits  in  one  day  $5,000,000  in  checks  and  only 
$1000  in  actual  cash,  and  the  same  day  the  bank  will 
honor  through  the  clearing  house  their  customers' 
checks  for  $5,000,000  and  not  be  called  upon  to  pay 
cash  for  more  than  $1000  over  the  counter.  In  such 
a  case  there  was  thus  a  business  of  $10,000,000  trans- 
acted in  one  day  in  one  bank  alone,  and  all  of  it  in 
checks,  excepting  a  little  $2000  cash,  and  yet  in  the 
steel  vaults  of  that  bank  was  $1,000,000  or  more  in 
cash  lying  idle  year  after  year  ready  to  pay  out  if 
people  should  suddenly  and  unwisely  rush  after  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  some  banks  in  the 
retail  districts  where  the  transactions  are  reversed; 
for  in  one  day,  in  one  such  bank,  $500,000  in  bills  and 
gold  and  silver  might  be  received  or  deposited  and 
only  $200,000  in  checks.  If  that  bank  was  not  called 
upon  every  day  to  pay  out  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  in  cashing  their  own  customers'  checks  over 
their  counter,  they  would  be  loaded  down  with  more 
bills  and  specie  than  they  would  know  what  to  do  with ; 
and  often  such  banks  have  to  carry  daily  to  other  banks 
or  to  the  clearing  house  or  to  the  United  States  Sub- 
Treasury  their  surplus  money.  They  would  much 
rather,  although  more  expensive  to  handle,  have  checks 
come  in  than  cash,  providing  their  customers  were  in 


MONEY.  275 

» 

the  habit  of  drawing  checks  instead  of  withdrawing 
cash. 

If  in  that  retail  locality  the  system  of  using  checks 
could  be  more  fully  adopted  by  the  population,  the 
same  as  in  the  wholesale  section,  it  would  be  far  more 
desirable,  and  help  the  banking  system  much  sooner 
to  reach  a  state  of  modern  perfection. 

The  less  actual  money  the  world  has  to  handle  the 
better  it  will  be  for  every  one,  and  the  sooner  a  more 
universal  system  of  using  bank  checks  is  adopted  the 
sooner  will  commercial  exchanges  advance  to  the  front 
ranks  with  progressive  civilization  and  work  up  to 
a  longed-for  business  stability. 

There  are  not  so  many  commercial  rascals  in  the 
world  as  people  would  imagine,  and  there  is  more 
real  downright  honesty  on  earth  in  business  than  is 
supposed.  When  the  hundreds  of  millions  and  even 
tens  of  billions  of  dollars  of  transactions  in  checks  that 
take  place  every  day  is  taken  into  consideration,  the 
percentage  of  bad  faith  is  very  small  and  is  getting  less 
in  each  decade. 

Faith  in  one  another  is  the  basis  of  modern  dealings, 
and  with  it  goes  the  confidence  one  man  has  in  the  bank 
checks  that  an  acquaintance  or  customer  would  sign 
or  endorse.  The  sooner  every  one  is  educated  in  the 
matter  of  drawing  checks  on  banks,  the  better  it  will 
be  for  the  world. 

But  it  is  amazing  how  little  the  vast  majority  of 
grown-up  people  know  about  keeping  a  bank  account, 
and  it  is  no  wonder  in  panicky  times  that  people  who 
draw  checks  help  to  start  the  "  runs"  that  make  the 
banks  unnecessarily  fail.  The  general  ignorance  on 
the  subject  is  surprising,  even  with  a  great  number  of 
people  who  in  later  life  have  been  induced  to  open  a 
bank  account.  No  boy  or  girl  in  the  public  schools 
should  be  allowed  to  reach  the  age  of  ten  or  twelve 
without  having  learned  by  actual  personal  "  school- 


276  THE    KITE    TRUST.     - 

« 

bank"  transactions  of  how  to  open  a  bank  account  and 
deposit  "  educational"  money  and  draw  checks  on  the 
school  bank  and  have  imaginary  commercial  transac- 
tions with  one  another;  or,  what  is  better,  to  have 
a  system  of  actual  school  savings  banks  to  teach  not 
only  the  business  part  of  it,  but  to  encourage  in  the 
young  the  saving  habit.  If  such  were  the  case,  a  whole 
nation  would  soon  grow  up  all  familiar  with  the  check 
system.  The  banking  business  should  be  taught  the 
youth  before  they  are  allowed  to  escape  from  school 
and  go  into  factories  and  other  establishments,  where 
such  knowledge  will  not  come  to  them  as  it  would 
naturally  if  they  went  into  the  bookkeeping  depart- 
ments of  commerce — and  very  few  find  employment 
in  that  direction.  To  the  vast  majority  of  people  a 
check  has  as  much  mystery  about  it  and  is  as  little 
understood  as  the  Lord's  Prayer  printed  in  Chinese 
would  be  to  the  same  persons. 

I  have  explained  before  how  gold  and  silver  have  no 
value  in  themselves  as  money  outside  of  the  knowledge 
people  have  that  it  costs  a  certain  number  of  days'  labor 
to  produce  it,  and  that  the  government  endorses  it,  and 
no  person  can  get  any  of  it  originally  without  taking 
their  chances  to  work  and  dig  or  mine  it  same  as  any 
other  person.  I  also  stated  the  reason  why  it  has  a 
world- wide  value  is  because  the  various  governments 
buy  all  that  is  presented  and  then  stamp  the  words 
"  Twenty  Dollars"  or  equivalent  words  on  a  little, 
round  piece  of  it  that  weighs  about  an  ounce,  and  so  it 
passes  for  $20  wherever  it  is  presented. 

If  the  government  would  likewise  stamp  $20  on 
a  little  piece  of  round  iron  or  steel  the  same  size  as  that 
$20  gold  piece,  the  people  would  receive  it  all  the  same 
for  its  full  face;  but  they  would  only  do  so  because 
they  had  faith  in  their  government,  just  as  they  have 
faith  in  a  fragment  of  "  greenback"  paper  on  which 
the  government  has  stamped  the  words  "  Twenty 


MONEY.  277 

Dollars."  But  there  is  a  difference  between  the  gold 
piece  and  that  green  paper  or  iron,  which  is  this :  The 
gold  piece  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold  all  over  the  wide 
world  and  can  purchase  things  anywhere,  because  it 
represents  a  recognized  twenty  dollars'  worth  of  labor 
that  has  been  expended  in  mining  or  producing  it,  and 
the  government  has  guaranteed  it  pure  gold  by  stamp- 
ing it  with  its  name;  but  the  iron  or  paper  money  is 
worthless  outside  of  the  country  where  it  is  issued. 
No  bazaar  in  Constantinople  or  Damascus  would  re- 
ceive an  American  $20  iron  piece  or  an  American 
greenback  in  payment  for  goods ;  but  just  hand  them 
an  American  $20  gold  piece,  and  the  Turk's  eyes  will 
glisten  with  eager  delight.  Why  is  there  no  value  to 
the  Turk  in  the  United  States  iron  or  paper  money? 
It  is  because  he  could  buy  green  paper  and  take  a  print- 
ing press  in  his  back  office  and  print  fifty  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  paper  money  for  that  $20  in  gold,  or 
buy  a  ton  of  iron  or  steel  and  stamp  out  ten  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  the  iron  money  for  the  same  $20; 
but  when  it  came  to  their  making  gold  money,  they 
would  first  have  to  pay  down  over  the  counter  $20 
good  cold  cash  for  twenty  dollars'  worth  of  gold,  or 
else  go  to  some  mining  camp  and  put  in  twenty  dollars' 
worth  of  labor  to  dig  the  gold. 

If  a  laborer  could  dig  twenty  dollars'  worth  of  gold 
in  less  time  than  he  could  dig  out  twenty  dollars'  worth 
of  contract  dirt  in  excavating  a  cellar,  he  would  never 
work  on  another  cellar  as  long  as  he  lived,  but  would 
be  a  gold  digger  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  would 
manage  in  some  manner  to  work  his  way  to  the  gold 
country  or  else  steal  a  ride  half  way  and  walk  the  rest. 

But  while  the  keeper  of  the  bazaar  in  far-off  Damas- 
cus would  not  take  the  $20  greenback,  because  he  knew 
nothing  about  it,  yet  in  that  same  city  of  Damascus 
there  were  bankers  whose  business  it  was,  for  their  own 
commercial  advantage,  to  know  that  the  American 


278  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

Government  was  good,  and  that  the  $20  greenback  was 
good  and  was  worth  its  full  face.  One  of  the  bankers 
would  be  willing  to  give  $15  to  $18  for  it  to  some 
tourist  who  was  sadly  in  need  of  "  spot  cash,"  and  thus 
that  Oriental  banker  would  make  a  profit  of  several 
dollars  on  the  transaction  by  sending  the  bill  back  to 
some  bank  in  America  with  which  he  did  his  exchange 
or  banking;  and  when  the  American  banker  received 
the  $20  greenback  in  his  registered  morning  mail,  he 
would  credit  the  Damascus  banker  with  the  full 
amount  of  $20.  So  you  see  money  is  valued  only  as 
one  has  confidence  in  the  government  that  issues  it, 
whether  it  is  nickels,  paper,  or  gold;  it  is  the  same 
with  the  American  $20  gold  piece,  for  it  has  all  the  law 
and  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States  back  of  it  and 
the  stamp  of  the  mint,  which  guarantees  that  it  is 
genuine.  But  if  a  $20  gold  piece  was  issued  by  some 
private  party,  no  one  would  want  to  take  it,  for  fear 
it  was  short  weight  or  not  pure  gold. 

Digging  for  gold  is  one  thing  and  making  money 
by  it  is  another.  If  every  person  who  went  to  the 
gold  fields  got  rich  or  made  money,  then  very  few  poor 
people  would  remain  at  home  to  do  anything  else. 
Many  go  to  the  mines,  but  few  are  favored  with  for- 
tune. The  vast  majority  of  the  gold  seekers  have 
nothing  but  trouble,  a  hungry  stomach,  and  hospital 
experience  for  their  pains ;  and  m  their  bitter  dis- 
appointment they  curse  their  luck  and  wish  they  had 
never  left  home.  Thousands  of  them  are  ashamed  to  go 
back  to  their  old  villages  or  farms  and  acknowledge 
to  their  friends  their  failure,  and  many  are  never  seen 
or  heard  from  again,  while  others  settle  down  in  the 
new  country  as  laborers  or  workmen  of  some  kind, 
dying  poorer  than  they  would  had  they  resisted  the 
beckoning  finger  of  fortune  and  remained  under  or 
near  the  old  roof.  Yet  it  is  these  restless,  fortune- 
seeking  wanderers  that  have  built  up  the  new  conti- 


.  MONEY.  279 

nents,  territories,  and  states ;  and  of  those  who  do  get 
rich  in  the  new  lands,  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  them 
make  it  out  of  business  or  land  or  other  things  than 
gold  digging,  for  only  a  very  few  favored  ones  make 
the  great  gold  strikes.  The  individual  luck  of  those 
few  is  heralded  over  the  earth  to  an  amazed  world; 
but  the  ill  fortune  of  the  vast  majority  is  heart-break- 
ing, and  silently  disappears  with  the  unfortunates  in 
their  lonely,  neglected,  unmarked  graves  in  the  solitary 
corners  of  the  far-away  lands. 

The  real  value  of  money  is  not  in  itself,  but  in  its 
being  a  standard  convenience  of  exchange.  It  is  the 
things  that  the  money  will  buy  that  are  the  real  articles 
of  value.  What  earthly  use  was  $20,000  in  gold  to 
Robinson  Crusoe?  He  would  have  been  willing  to 
have  given  the  whole  of  it  for  a  $200  naphtha  launch 
to  have  been  able  to  escape  to  where  there  was  some- 
body or  something  civilized.  But  if,  instead  of  having 
the  gold,  he  could  have  found  in  its  place  or  bought 
with  it  a  general  assortment  of  twenty  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  goods  like  that  found  in  any  country  store, 
it  would  have  made  him  gratefully  crazy  enough  to 
have  said  the  Lord's  Prayer  backward. 

No  person  wants  gold  to  eat  or  drink,  nor  would 
one  want  to  live  in  a  gold  house,  as  it  would  be  incon- 
veniently cold  in  winter.  Gold  can  be  made  into  ten 
thousand  beautiful  forms  for  a  joy  to  the  eye;  to  a 
blind  person  it  would  be  of  no  more  value  than  polished 
brass,  yet  that  blind  person  has  great  need  for  the  food 
and  clothes  that  gold  will  buy.  Gold  as  money  is  only 
good  in  buying;  and  if  there  was  anything  else  equally 
valuable  and  convenient,  so  that  people  could  agree 
on  it  as  a  universal  medium  of  exchange,  then  it  would 
answer  every  purpose. 

I  have  just  used  the  terms  "  universal  medium  of 
exchange."  That  word  "  universal,"  in  connection 
with  the  others,  has  given  rise  to  the  great  difference 


28O  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

• 

of  opinions,  debates,  and  formations  of  political  parties 
in  late  years  on  the  money  question.  What  with  rail- 
roads, steamships,  telegraphs,  and  telephones,  the 
world  is  getting  so  close  together  that  something  which 
everybody  will  accept  must  be  used  with  which  to  settle 
the  international  balances  of  trade. 

This  last  expression,  "  balance  of  trade,"  is  very  sig- 
nificant. A  farmer  raises  produce,  but  has  to  buy 
clothing,  books,  agricultural  implements,  medicines, 
furniture,  etc.,  from  the  village  store.  He  keeps  a  run- 
ning account  with  the  village  merchant  and  buys  one 
thousand  dollars'  worth  during  the  year;  but  he  takes 
back  to  the  village  store  during  the  year  butter,  eggs, 
poultry,  corn,  fruit,  cider,  and  a  variety  of  other 
produce  amounting  to  $900.  At  the  end  of  the  twelve 
months  the  farmer  finds  a  balance  of  trade  against  him 
of  $100,  or,  in  other  words,  he  owes  the  village  mer- 
chant that  much,  and  must  settle  it.  If  the  farmer  has 
any  money  in  bank,  he  gives  a  check  and  settles  the 
account ;  thus,  no  actual  money  has  passed  between  the 
village  merchant  and  himself  duringthewholeyear,and 
there  were  nineteen  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  goods 
handled  backward  and  forward  between  the  two.  If 
the  farmer  has  no  bank  account,  he  sells  his  wheat  for 
$1200  to  the  grain  elevator  and  gives  the  village  store 
an  order  or  draft  for  the  $100  on  the  grain  elevator 
in  settlement;  thus,  no  cash  is  used,  not  even  for  that 
$100  balance;  but  if  the  farmer  prefers  it,  he  asks  the 
"  elevator"  for  the  "  spot"  money,  which  is  given 
him  in  gold  or  silver  or  bills.  He  takes  it,  and  also 
takes  the  risk  in  going  home  of  being  robbed  of  the 
whole  amount;  but  if  he  wisely  took  a  check  for  $1200 
for  the  grain,  he  could  deposit  it  in  bank  and  then  draw 
his  checks  and  run  no  risk  of  robbery,  and  no  actual 
money  would  be  necessary.  In  either  case  he  settles 
in  full  the  $100  balance  of  trade  against  him  at  the 
village  store. 


MONEY.  28l 

The  fifteen  or  twenty  merchants  in  that  same  village 
have  the  various  surrounding  farmers  as  their 
customers,  to  whom  they  sell  goods,  and  these  village 
merchants  buy  their  stock  of  merchandise  from  the 
wholesale  dealers  in  the  near-by  inland  cities.  During 
the  course  of  a  year  these  village  merchants  buy  a  total 
of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  goods  from 
those  city  merchants,  and  at  various  times  send  down 
to  the  city  butter,  eggs,  wool,  cheese,  fruit,  vegetables, 
horses,  cattle,  sheep,  hay,  and  grain,  amounting  to 
$250,000 ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  the  city  owes  the 
village  and  the  village  owes  the  farming  community 
that  difference  or  balance  of  trade,  of  about  $50,000, 
which  has  to  be  settled.  Now,  if  the  farmers  all  want 
the  cash,  then  the  balance  of  trade,  or  $50,000,  has  to 
be  sent  up  from  the  city  by  express  in  bills  or  gold, 
and  the  farmers  each  get  their  share  of  it ;  and  having 
thus  made  some  money  during  the. year,  they  pay  off 
a  part  of  their  mortgages  or  buy  a  piano  or  paint  up 
the  house,  and  feel  somewhat  rich,  for  they  are  some- 
thing ahead;  and  if  the  crops  are  likewise  good  over 
the  whole  country,  then  the  whole  nation  in  the  same 
way  happily  feels  it,  for  the  farmers  are  making  money 
and  everything  is  well. 

But  if  the  crops  had  been  poor,  things  would  have 
been  just  the  reverse.  The  village  merchants  would 
have  sold  the  farmer  the  two  hundred  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  goods  and  only  received  in  return  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  butter,  cheese, 
eggs,  wheat,  and  other  farm  produce;  and  the  farmers 
at  the  end  of  the  year  would  thus  have  been  in  a  bad 
financial  condition,  or  $50,000  in  debt  to  the  village  mer- 
chants, or  behindhand ;  or,  in  other  words,  a  "  balance 
of  trade"  against  them  of  $50,000,  and  they  would 
have  felt  poor,  paid  off  no  mortgages,  and  bought  no 
pianos,  etc.  They  would  live  on  credit  during  the  next 
winter  and  buy  only  from  hand  to  mouth,  and  the  trade 


282  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

in  the  villages  would  be  dull  and  discouraging,  and  all 
the  men  would  sit  around  the  big,  red-hot  stove  in  the 
grocery  store  with  nothing  to  do  but  whittle  sticks  and 
tell  stories,  and  the  women  would  have  just  as  much, 
if  not  more,  to  do  in  patching  up  and  continually 
mending  last  year's  clothing.  And  on  the  first  of  every 
month  the  village  merchants  would  receive  a  large  mail 
of  dunning  letters  from  the  distant  city  wholesale 
dealers,  who  were  themselves  distressed  for  money  to 
pay  their  own  bills,  some  of  the  letters  being  fore- 
runners of  threatened  lawsuits. 

If  the  farmers  have  the  "  balance  of  trade"  in  their 
favor,  it  makes  business  good  over  the  whole  country ; 
but  when  the  crops  are  poor  and  the  farmers  or  pro- 
ducers are  behindhand,  with  the  balance  of  trade 
against  them,  then  dull  times  reach  the  city.  The  city 
folks  cannot  go  to  the  country  the  next  summer;  the 
boarding-house  farmers  have  a  dull  time,  their  girls 
do  not  get  the  new  dresses  or  hats  to  go  to  meeting; 
and  so  when  misfortune  comes  to  the  farmers  it  reaches 
the  city  and  then  again  reacts  on  the  country.  In  this 
way  the  farmers  are  the  foundation  on  which  the  whole 
fabric  of  prosperity  depends,  and  the  state  of  the  crops 
means  more  to  the  nation  than  the  unthinking  people 
in  the  cities  imagine.  When  I  speak  of  farmers  I  also 
refer  to  producers  generally — that  is,  people  who  are 
engaged  in  getting  something  that  other  people  want 
out  of  the  earth  and  air  and  water;  for  instance,  coal 
and  iron  miners,  gold  and  silver-mining  camps, 
quarries,  and  manufacturing  districts.  All  of  these  are 
communities  that,  according  to  good  or  bad  times,  have 
the  balance  of  trade  in  their  favor  or  against  them,  and 
money  or  checks  are  needed  to  settle  the  balance  of 
trade  between  the  city  and  country. 

Exactly  as  the  smaller  cities  have  dealings  with  the 
country  towns  and  villages,  so  do  these  smaller  cities 
have  business  relations  with  the  greater  cities.  If 


MONEY.  283 

crops  are  good  over  the  country,  then  New  York, 
Chicago,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Baltimore,  Cincinnati, 
St.  Louis,  etc.,  have  to  send  millions  of  dollars  OF  else 
checks  out  West  to  settle  the  balance  of  trade.  If  crops 
are  bad,  then  there  is  business  stagnation.  No  checks 
are  being  passed  backward  and  forward  to  settle  ac- 
counts, dull  times  come,  and  people  are  all  despondent. 

When  crops  are  good,  millions  of  dollars  in  money 
have  to  be  sent  to  the  farmers  to  pay  for  them,  and 
very  little  actual  money  is  left  in  the  banks  in  the  great 
money  centres.  The  banks  raise  their  rate  of  interest, 
and  city  merchants  who  need  money  suffer;  but  in 
a  short  time  the  distant  farmers  and  miners  who  have 
received  the  money  pay  off  their  debts  to  the  village, 
and  the  village  pays  to  the  smaller  cities,  and  last  of  all 
it  gets  back  to  New  York  again,  where  it  becomes  so 
plentiful  for  several  months  that,  in  order  to  loan  it 
out  securely,  the  banks  have  to  lower  the  rate  of  inter- 
est to  almost  nothing. 

If  the  farmers  and  mechanics  would  take  checks  for 
their  grain  and  wages,  then  there  would  be  no  great 
movement  of  actual  money  from  one  part  of  the  coun- 
try to  another,  and  the  country  would  learn  to  have 
confidence  in  checks  instead  of  gold.  The  time  will 
come  when  such  will  be  the  case,  and  then  very  little 
gold  or  greenbacks  will  be  needed,  except  gold  to  meet 
an  emergency  when  the  balance  of  trade  is  against  our 
nation  in  favor  of  other  countries. 

That  last  expression,  "  balance  of  trade  against  our 
nation,"  indicates  the  real  reason  why  we  are  having 
so  much  trouble  with  the  silver  people  and  the  silver 
question.  If  there  were  no  persons  in  other  lands  to 
whom  we  owed  money,  then  it  would  make  no  differ- 
ence whether  we  had  gold,  silver,  or  greenbacks  as  our 
medium  of  exchange.  We  could  do  without  gold 
altogether,  except  for  the  sentimental  necessity  of 
having  wedding  rings;  for  when  the  government  puts 


284  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

its  stamp  on  either  gold  or  silver  or  paper  money,  then 
all  that  is  necessary  is  to  send  the  money  from  one  part 
of  the  country  to  the  other  to  settle  the  local  balance  of 
trade,  because  our  government  has  made  it  all  legal 
tender  or  lawful  money  in  every  part  of  the  land ;  and 
the  government  credit  is  good  enough  to  have  it  issue 
hundreds  of  millions  of  greenbacks.  But  there  is  a 
limit  even  to  that.  When  it  comes  to  paying  our  debts 
to  other  nations,  then  it  is  a  horse  of  another  color; 
and  Europe  says  we  do  not  want  your  greenbacks  or 
silver,  the  only  thing  we  want  is  gold,  and  she  demands 
it.  That  is  the  cause  of  all  the  silver  agitation ;  for  if 
it  were  not  for  that  balance  of  trade  against  us  and 
the  menace  of  having  all  our  bonds  and  stocks  returned, 
we  could  do  without  gold  altogether,  and  only  have 
silver  money  and  greenbacks  or  greenbacks  alone,  or 
use  nothing  but  checks ;  but  while  we  are  very  conceited 
and  have  a  good  opinion  of  ourselves,  and  think  we  in 
the  United  States  are  the  greatest  people  on  the  earth, 
yet  if  we  got  mad  and  insisted  on  paying  our  debts  or 
balance  of  trade  to  other  nations  in  our  silver  or  green- 
backs, why,  we  would  very  soon  have  our  pride  taken 
out  of  us  and  find  we  were  not  the  "  only  pebble  on  the 
beach."  If,  then,  we  should  stop  buying  goods  of  other 
nations,  they  would  also  stop  buying  of  us ;  and  then 
what  would  become  of  all  our  surplus  grain  and  prod- 
ucts, of  which  we  send  yearly  to  other  nations  about 
$1,000,000,000?  J 

A  whole  lot  of  demagogues  at  this  point  in  the  argu- 
ment talk  bluster  and  nonsense,  misleading  people  by 
false,  enthusiastic  spread-eagle  patriotism,  and  say  we 
can  get  along  without  Europe,  etc. ;  but  when  it  comes 
down  to  business  their  advice  is  the  unwisdom  of 
mischief-making  fools.  As  long  as  we  are  honest  and 
the  universal  medium  of  exchange  is  gold  we  shall  have 
to  settle  the  balance  of  trade  in  gold  or  else  quit  doing 
business  with  other  people;  and  if  we  quit  them,  then 


MONEY.  285 

they  will  quit  us  and  buy  their  grain  of  Russia,  Egypt, 
and  India,  and  we  shall  get  orders  for  grain  only  dur- 
ing the  years  when  we  are  lucky  enough  to  have  abun- 
dant harvests,  and  when,  also,  crops  are  a  failure 
abroad ;  and  that  does  not  happen  very  often.  We  owe 
too  much  money  abroad  to  be  independently  dishonest 
enough  to  tell  our  creditors  to  go  to  the  bad  place. 

If  all  the  nations  could  come  together  and  remone- 
tize  silver,  then  it  would  be  all  right  for  the  Silverites, 
and  there  would  be  no  commercial  reason  why  silver 
should  not  be  used  the  same  as  formerly,  unless,  as 
they  say,  thousands  of  tons  of  it,  enough  to  swamp  the 
commercial  world,  are  in  sight  ready  to  be  dug  out  of 
the  mines  if  the  price  would  advance  to  the  old  figure. 
But  no  person  has  as  yet  proved  that  such  a  fabulous 
quantity  does  exist.  As  long,  however,  as  the  other 
nations  believe  this  is  the  case,  and  will  not  take  silver, 
wre  cannot  make  them'  do  so. 

The  only  really  good  reason  there  is  for  discarding 
silver  is  that  there  is  no  financial  use  for  it,  excepting 
for  small  change,  such  as  half  dollars,  quarters,  and 
dimes.  If  one-tenth  of  the  effort  and  bickering  con- 
sumed on  the  silver  question  was  directed  to  teaching 
the  masses  to  use  checks,  a  happy  day  would  come  to 
our  nation. 

It  is  required  by  law  for  a  bank  to  carry  in  cash  only 
about  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  its  deposits — that  is  to 
say,  if  a  bank  has  $12,000,000  deposited  by  its  custom- 
ers, the  government  and  experienced  financiers  con- 
sider it  safe  banking  to  have  only  a  quarter  of  it  (which 
is  equal  to  $3,000,000)  in  cash  in  the  safe.  The  other 
$9,000,000  is  loaned  out  on  notes  and  collaterals  to  the 
bank's  customers  and  cannot  be  got  at  immediately. 
The  principal  reason  why  that  $3,000,000  reserve  is 
kept  on  hand  is  to  be  ready  for  a  time  when  a  panic 
comes,  when  the  depositors  want  their  money  paid 
back  to  them  all  at  once  in  cash;  then,  of  course,  there 


286  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

4 

is  this  "reserve"  on  hand  to  partially  meet  the  demand. 
There  is,  accordingly,  supposed  to  be  $9,000,000  of 
deposits  unprotected  with  a  reserve,  which  represents 
more  than  half  or  three-quarters  of  the  depositors,  all 
of  whom  are  supposed  to  have  level  heads  and  know 
enough  about  banking  to  leave  their  money  in  the  bank 
in  troublesome  times,  not  foolishly  helping  to  cause 
the  failure  of  a  solvent  bank  by  a  senseless  "  run." 
There  is  hardly  a  bank  in  the  world  without  outside 
help  that  could  pay  all  its  entire  list  of  depositors  off 
on  a  day's  notice  even  in  the  best  of  flush  times,  for  the 
deposited  money  is  loaned  out  and  cannot  be  collected 
on  an  hour's  notice.  It  takes  some  time  to  collect  it, 
and  then  the  stockholders'  capital  stands  there  to  make 
the  depositors  safe  if  the  bank  has  lost  money. 

In  some  banks  there  are  these  reserve  packages  of 
greenbacks  and  bags  of  gold  coin  that  have  never  been 
used  for  twenty  years.  They  just  rest  as  quiet  as  a 
mummy  in  their  little  corner  in  the  steel  safe,  doing 
nothing  from  one  year's  end  to  another.  The  banking 
business  of  the  country  is  partly  based  upon  the  confi- 
dence the  people  have  that  all  that  "  reserve"  money  is 
kept  honestly  in  the  safe  by  the  officers  of  the  banks. 
That  reserve  might  just  as  well  be  something  else  as 
well  as  gold  or  greenbacks,  if  people  had  confidence  in 
the  new  material,  whatever  it  is.  Some  people  say 
warehouse  receipts  for  wheat  and  corn  or  pig  iron  or 
silver  and  other  stable  productions  would  answer  for 
bank  reserve  security  just  as  well  as  gold.  There  really 
would  be  nothing  so  substantial  as  land  certificates,  if 
the  government  owned  all  the  land  and  was  back  of  the 
national  banking  business,  the  same  as  it  is  now  back 
of  it  with  government  bonds.  Or,  if  wealthy  owners 
of  real  estate  should  back  up  their  desire  to  open  a  bank 
with  real  estate  security,  it  would  be  as  good  as  gold 
so  far  as  national  banking  is  concerned,  but  not  good 
enough  to  satisfy  a  settlement  of  a  balance  of  trade 


MONEY.  287 

by  foreign  countries  against  our  nation.  Corn  and 
grain  might  burn  up  or  be  destroyed  in  various  ways, 
and  would  complicate  the  security  even  if  it  was  in- 
sured. Pig  iron,  as  well  as  silver,  might  be  over- 
produced in  an  abundance  far  beyond  a  commercial 
demand ;  but  there  is  just  so  much  land  on  this  earth, 
and  no  more,  as  you  cannot  stretch  the  earth  to  a 
greater  circumference  than  twenty-five  thousand  miles, 
and  the  values  can  be  fixed  or  established  by  the  gov- 
ernment the  same  as  gold  and  silver  has  an  official 
established  or  fixed  value.  Gold  has  only  a  fixed  or 
artificial  value,  as  it  costs  more  to  produce  it  in  some 
places  than  in  others;  but  when  it  arrives  at  the  mint 
it  is^  taken  at  a  fixed  price,  and  that  price  has  been 
agreed  upon  by  all  nations,  just  the  same  as  one  firm 
can  make  shoes  for  $2  a  pair  and  another  factory  turn 
them  out  for  $1.50.  But  if  the  government  takes  them 
all  at  $1.75  per  pair,  then  one  man  makes  and  another 
man  loses  by  that  fixity  of  price;  the  man  that  loses 
will  soon  give  up  the  business,  and  if  shoes  increase 
in  numbers  beyond  reason,  and  the  price  goes  down  to 
ten  cents  a  pair,  then  the  nations  of  the  earth  would 
have  to  come  together  and  adopt  something  else  besides 
shoes  for  a  standard.  It  is  the  same  way  with  gold. 

The  "  gold-standard  people"  say  that  the  govern- 
ments do  not  establish  the  price  for  gold,  but  that  it  is 
the  commercial  demand  that  gives  it  its  fixity,  like  any 
other  article  that  comes  under  the  laws  of  supply  and 
demand.  That  is  not  strictly  so.  It  is  a  shrewd,  technical 
statement.  The  government  does  not  in  reality  actually 
buy  all  the  gold,  but  arranges  to  give  a  certain  number 
of  gold  dollars  in  exchange  for  an  equal  amount  of 
gold  dust,  nuggets,  or  bars  delivered  at  the  mints, 
providing  the  depositor  will  pay  for  the  cost  of  the 
coinage.  But  when  you  resolve  the  question  down  to 
its  practical  bearings,  it  amounts  to  the  broad  statement 
that  the  various  governments  do  purchase  the  gold,  for 


288  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

they  agree  to  call  it  the  standard  of  exchange,  and  will 
take  it  for  all  debts  at  a  certain  price  per  ounce,  and 
that  gives  it  its  stability.  If  it  were  not  for  the  various 
governments  doing  that,  then  gold  would  fluctuate 
daily,  same  as  wheat  or  pig-iron  or  as  silver  does  at 
present. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  a  man  to  go  back  to  the  mint 
and  carry  off  the  gold  dollars  coined  from  his  particular 
gold  deposit,  but  he  can  receive  a  gold  certificate  for 
the  amount  and  the  gold  itself  remains  in  the  treasury 
vault. 

If  the  government  would  do  the  same  thing  for 
grain  or  other  commodities,  then  there  would  be  no 
need  for  commercial  travellers,  for  manufacturing  or 
quarrying  companies,  as  all  would  be  favored  the  same 
as  the  happy  gold  producers  are  at  present — that  is, 
with  power  to  go  and  turn  their  products  into  a  medium 
of  exchange  that  does  not  vary  day  after  day  or  year 
after  year  in  value.  A  farmer  cannot  do  that  with  his 
produce.  He  can  take  ten  thousand  bushels  of 
wheat  to  a  grain  elevator  and  receive  a  certificate  for  it 
that  can  be  endorsed  and  transferred  from  hand  to 
hand,  but  the  wheat  will  be  one  quotation  to-day  and 
another  price  to-morrow;  it  has  not  the  government 
back  of  it  to  receive  it  at  a  fixed  value  and  keep  the 
price  from  dropping. 

Many  arguments  can  be  offered  pro  and  con  in 
regard  to  the  above,  and  the  further  it  is  discussed  the 
more  complicated  it  becomes ;  but  as  all  roads  lead  to 
Rome,  so  all  the  arguments  finally  go  back  to  the  fact 
that  the  governments  are  back  of  gold,  and  give  it  its 
fixity  of  value.  Ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  people 
never  in  the  least  manner  trouble  their  heads  to  think 
or  consider  the  subject,  but  take  gold  coin  from  habit 
or  custom  or  usage  or  from  the  confidence  that  has 
come  down  generation  after  generation  for  six  thou- 
sand years.  They  see  the  government's  stamp  on  it, 


MONEY.  289 

that  the  government  is  behind  it,  and  that  is  the  end 
of  the  whole  matter  with  them. 

The  price  of  gold  is  gauged  by  something  that  is 
fixed  o"r  settled  in  price,  which,  of  course,  cannot  be 
wheat  or  grain  or  iron,  as  they  fluctuate  according  to 
the  supply  or  demand.  Gold  must  be  gauged  by  some- 
thing, such  as  mortgages  or  bonds,  that  have  a  face 
value  and  that  will  keep  their  fixity  for  a  century  or 
a  thousand  years  if  necessary.  A  $1000  bond  or  mort- 
gage means  one  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  accumu- 
lated labor ;  and  when  the  average  value  of  a  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  labor  has  been  once  established  by  the 
financial  world,  it  can  become  the  unit  of  value  to  gauge 
all  further  transactions  and  can  be  adjusted  in  the 
course  of  the  centuries. 

So  gold  money,  as  I  said  before,  has  no  high  present 
value  in  itself  beyond  the  fact  that  the  governments  will 
buy  at  a  certain  price  all  that  is  presented.  Every  other 
thing  than  gold  that  man  buys  and  sells  eventually 
receives  its  value  by  competition.  If  the  governments 
did  not  buy  or  receive  all  the  gold  presented  at  an 
established  price,  then  gold  could  not  be  a  steady  article 
of  value  to  be  used  for  money.  It  would  soon  be  like 
silver  and  all  other  commodities,  and  would  have  its 
price  fixed  day  by  day  by  competition,  and  eventually 
be  used  only  in  the  arts. 

Checks  would  answer  every  purpose  for  money,  but 
the  country  as  yet  is  not  educated  to  it.  Some  day, 
however,  it  will  be  practicable  and  better  than  all  else. 
Year  by  year  more  people  use  less  money  and  more 
checks  in  their  transactions ;  and  on  this  basis,  as  I 
first  stated,  there  is  too  much  rather  than  too  little 
money  in  the  world,  providing  people  take  advantage 
of  the  check  system.  The  main  thing  I  want  to  impress 
on  your  mind  is  that  gold  is  not  valuable  or  worth  its 
face  merely  in  itself,  but  holds  its  price  because  the 
governments  fix  it  at  that  figure.  The  day  may  come, 


2QO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

and  soon,  when  gold  will  flow  in  from  the  mines  so 
plentifully  that  it  will  be  demonetized  as  silver  is  at 
present,  because  there  would  be  more  of  it  than  the 
world  needs  for  money ;  and  the  increased  use  of  checks 
and  the  recognition  of  some  other  form  of  security  will 
supersede  gold. 

Platinum  could  be  used  as  money  in  place  of  gold, 
as  it  is  much  scarcer  and  more  compact  and  worth 
more  than  gold  per  ounce;  and  there  is  one  very  sig- 
nificant fact  respecting  the  distant  future,  that  the 
greatest  and  most  far-seeing  banking  house  in  the 
world  has  bought  and  is  still  buying  every  available 
platinum  mine  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Platinum  is  the  most  compact  as  well  as  the  costliest 
of  metals  that  can  be  obtained  in  commercial  quantities, 
and,  consequently,  is  the  most  convenient  metal  to 
transport  from  one  place  to  another  for  bullion  or 
money.  The  specific  gravity  (or  number  of  ounces  in 
a  cubic  foot)  and  value  of  platinum,  compared  with 
other  metals,  is  as  follows : 

Weight  Pe^Cubic  Foot,     Worth  About 

Iron 5,200  $3.25 

Lead 7;?8o  19-44 

Silver 10,534  6,320.40 

Gold 17,647  352,940.00 

Platinum 22,069  460,000.00 

The  price  of  platinum  is  gauged  by  the  commercial 
demand;  but  if  the  governments  of  the  earth  would 
put  a  price  on  it,  they  could  make  that  price  as  high  as 
they  would  choose,  as  the  supply  is  so  comparatively 
limited. 

Do  not  despise  gold  at  present,  but  obtain  all  of  it 
you  can ;  when  the  gold  collapse  does  come  do  not  have 
too  much  of  it  on  hand  to  sell  at  half  the  old  price. 


MONEY.  291 

Remember  that  silver  has  gone  all  to  pieces  inside  of 
twenty-five  years.  There  is  no  telling  but  that  for 
commercial  purposes  silver  may  not  some  day  be  more 
valuable  in  dollars  and  cents  than  gold  itself. 

I  have  now  talked  to  you  on  the  subject  of  money 
and  checks,  but  there  is  one  underlying  fact  that  I  have 
mentioned,  but  not  particularly  dwelt  on,  and  that  is 
what  is  back  of  the  checks  that  makes  them  safe,  or 
what  is  the  underlying  security  to  a  depositor's  protec- 
tion and  safety.  The  government  looks  after  that  part 
of  it  as  well  as  it  can,  and  the  wisest  of  men  have  all 
they  can  do  to  arrange  laws  and  think  out  plans  that 
will  meet  new  emergencies.  The  main  thought  of  the 
government,  as  far  as  banking  is  concerned,  is  how  to 
secure  or  protect  depositors. 

Next  week  I  will  talk  to  you  on  the  subject  of  bank- 
ing, and  will  then  try  and  furnish  you  with  the  missing 
link  explaining  the  basic  security  to  all  finance,  and  will 
endeavor  to  make  it  easy,  showing  you  what  is  back  of 
checks ;  but  it  is  very  hard  in  a  few  words  to  make  it 
plain,  as  thousands  of  thick  volumes  have  been  written 
on  the  subject,  and  it  is  still  a  mystery  to  many  who 
make  finance  a  life  study  as  well  as  to  the  millions  who 
do  not. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

BANKING. 

"  LAST  week  we  talked  about  money,  and  the  check 
system  that  has  come  into  such  general  use  during 
our  century.  From  the  year  1700  to  1800  and  before, 
checks  were  used  the  same  as  now,  but  their  circula- 
tion has  enormously  increased  from  1800  to  1900. 
During  the  next  century,  from  190x5  to  2000,  the  cir- 
culation of  checks  will  be  still  further  increased.  Thus 
the  coin  system  in  force  for  the  last  six  thousand  years 
will  be  almost  entirely  superseded  by  our  modern 
check  methods,  and  the  age  in  which  we  live  will  be 
as  conspicuous  for  improvement  in  financial  affairs  as 
the  Elizabethan  age  was  in  literature. 

"  I  spoke  last  week  about  ten  men  starting  a  bank 
with  $100,000  capital,  each  one  contributing  his  cer- 
tified check  for  $10,000.  '  Certifying'  is  the  act  of  the 
bank  writing  across  the  face  of  the  check  that  the 
signer  has  in  the  bank  the  amount  of  money  that  it 
calls  for.  The  reason  these  checks  were  certified  by 
the  bank  was  because  each  one  of  the  check  signers 
had  $10,000  capital  or  accumulated  labor,  or  re- 
sponsibility deposited  in  the  bank,  and  the  reason  why 
any  business  man  would  gladly  accept  one  or  all  of 


BANKING.  293 

those  certified  checks  was  because  the  bank,  on  pres- 
entation, would  redeem  the  check  by  paying  gold  or 
silver  or  greenbacks,  whichever  was  demanded;  but 
generally  as  long  as  the  holder  of  the  check  is  satis- 
fied that  the  bank  has  the  money  in  its  safe  and  is  able 
to  pay,  then  he  does  not  want  the  money,  as  it  is  too 
bulky  to  carry  or  handle.  He  prefers  to  hold  the 
check,  for  he  can  care  for  it  if  necessary  in  his  pocket. 
The  reason  he  prefers  to  keep  the  check  is  entirely  one 
of  confidence  in  the  bank,  and  also  confidence  in  the 
quality  of  the  money  the  bank  has  in  its  vaults,  and 
this  confidence  is  the  foundation  or  key-stone  of  the 
arch  on  which  the  banking  system  rests. 

"  If  the  holder  of  the  check  has  confidence,  then  in 
what  did  the  confidence  consist?  It  was  in  three 
things :  First,  in  the  integrity  and  business  ability  or 
genius  of  the  men  who  manage  the  bank  and  in  the 
honesty  of  the  employes,  and,  second,  in  the  confi- 
dence that  the  gold  or  silver  or  greenbacks  to  the 
amount  of  the  check  was  there  in  the  bank  to  meet 
it  if  presented  at  any  time.  There  was  also  a  third 
and  important  reason,  which  was  confidence  that  the 
State  or  National  government  had  established  laws  to 
protect  depositors.  That  has  too  often  proved  un- 
founded confidence,  for  the  government  does  not 
make  good  one's  losses  if  dishonesty  or  mismanage- 
ment has  made  a  bank  fail. 

"  Can  a  poor  person  go  into  the  private  banking 
business?  No;  he  has  first  to  prove  his  financial  genius 
by  going  into  some  other  business  to  accumulate  a 
small  or  large  fortune,  and  then  he  can  go  into  hand- 
ling money,  or  he  can  inherit  money,  and  thus  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  business  genius  of  his  father  or  other 
benefactors,  afterward  proving  to  the  world  that  he 
himself  has  inherited  business  genius  as  well  as  gold. 

"  Poor  men  who  have  financial  genius  can  become 
bankers  by  being  advanced  by  rich  men  to  responsible 


294  THE    KTTE    TRUST. 

positions  in  banks,  but  they  own  only  a  very  little  or 
no  interest  in  the  bank.  Before  they  were  advanced  to 
such  a  responsible  position  they  had  first  to  prove 
their  genius  for  banking  in  under  positions  or  in  some 
other  department  of  business,  and  also  by  establish- 
ing their  integrity.  As  a  general  rule,  no  person  who 
is  poor  should  be  in  the  management  of  banking  cir- 
cles; only  successful  men  should  direct  the  handling 
of  money  for  others.  No  director  of  a  bank  should 
be  a  continual  borrower  from  his  bank.  He  should 
not  be  under  extreme  obligations  to  his  bank  asso- 
ciates, but  should  be  independent,  and  just  as  soon 
as  he  is  in  any  way  embarrassed  or  permanently  in- 
volved he  should  immediately  resign  or  be  compelled 
by  the  law  to  do  so  under  penalty.  In  this  last-men- 
tioned channel  lies  the  great  danger  and  weakness  of 
the  banking  system,  for  when  directors  and  managers 
of  banks  are  lenient  and  inclined  to  favor  one  another, 
then  the  commencement  of  the  end  of  that  bank  is  at 
hand.  Bank  directors  should  be  more  severe  and 
exacting  with  themselves  than  with  customers;  a 
board  of  such  bank  Spartans  will  never  see  a  run  on 
their  bank,  and  it  will  be  the  rule  and  not  the  excep- 
tion in  the  next  century,  as  laws  will  become  more 
perfected  and  severe. 

"  Thus,  the  first  thought  of  confidence  in  the  $10,- 
ooo  check  is  in  the  integrity  and  good  business  man- 
agement of  the  men  within  the  bank,  but  the  second 
reason  for  confidence  is  more  difficult  to  under- 
stand, as  the  actual  money  the  check  represents  is  a 
very  complicated  affair.  It  involves  the  proportion 
of  a  reserve,  consisting  of  some  gold,  which  is  good 
for  its  weight  all  over  the  world;  and  some  silver, 
which  is  demonetized  and  not  worth  its  weight  at  the 
same  price  in  every  country;  some  greenbacks,  which 
•represent  only  the  solvency  of  a  single  nation;  and  in 
addition  to  this  reserve,  the  bank  has  loans  and  dis- 


BANKING.  295 

counts  to  people  who  may  or  may  not  be  solvent; 
bonds  and  stocks  that  may  go  up  or  down  in  price  to- 
morrow; real  estate  that  may  become  involved  in 
some  unthought-of  way ;  in  fact,  the  value  of  the  check 
for  $10,000  is  complicated  in  a  hundred  or  a  thousand 
ways  if  anything  should  happen  to  the  bank.  If  noth- 
ing happens  to  the  bank,  then  the  check  is  good,  and 
when  used  has  answered  its  purpose  better  than  if  the 
gold  or  silver  or  paper  money  had  been  lugged  around 
by  the  citizen  from  place  to  place. 

"To  a  person  who  does  not  know  about  it,  the 
more  you  try  to  explain  the  banking  system  by  going 
into  details,  the  more  you  will  mystify  him.  If  you 
want  him  to  understand  the  subject  you  must  take 
him  away  from  the  quarterly,  semi-annual,  and  annual 
statements;  away  from  the  gold,  silver,  greenbacks, 
and  silver  certificates;  away  from  the  clearing-house; 
away  from  the  steel  safes  and  complicated  books  of 
entry;  away  from  the  silver  question  and  'single 
standard'  or  gold  hobby;  away  from  drafts,  checks, 
and  bills  of  exchange;  away  from  bonds,  stocks, 
warehouse  receipts,  and  bills  of  lading;  away  from 
safe-deposit  vaults.  When  you  get  him  away,  then 
take  him  on  top  of  some  high  tower,  or  on  the  summit 
of  Pike's  Peak,  or,  what  is  better,  go  in  your  imagina- 
tion with  him  one  thousand  miles  high  in  a  balloon 
and  look  down  on  our  whole  country  in  one  bird's- 
eye  view  and  take  in  the  entire  country's  progress  at 
a  single  glance,  and  what  do  you  see?  If  you  have  a 
magician's  glass  you  can  '  look  backward'  four  hun- 
dred years  to  1490,  before  Columbus  ventured  west- 
ward on  the  bosom  of  the  '  great  unknown;'  and  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  from  the  Great  Lakes 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  there  is  nothing  to  see  but  vast 
forests  and  plains  inhabited  only  here  and  there  by  a 
race  of  ignorant  Indians  who  live  in  ramshackle  tents, 
and  whose  entire  wealth  consists  mostlv  of  an  assort- 


296  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

ment  of  bows  and  arrows  and  crude  cooking  utensils, 
and  for  the  entire  national  lot  of  them  you  would  not 
pay  Siooo  cash. 

"  After  viewing  such  a  scene  for  a  few  minutes  you 
can  then  gaze  through  the  other  end  of  the  magician's 
glass  and  look  at  the  scene  to-day,  four  hundred  years 
later,  and  what  do  you  see?  Only  a  magician's  glass 
could  seemingly  produce  such  a  change,  for  now  you 
gaze  down  on  a  nation  of  seventy-five  million  civilized 
people  who  live  in  homes;  spires  are  pointing  upward 
in  all  directions  with  some  good  intention  or  purpose, 
and  on  every  hand  wealth  is  abounding  to  the  extent 
of  $100,000,000,000. 

"Four  hundred  years  ago,  $1000  was  your  estimate 
of  the  wealth  of  the  country's  movable  articles, 
gauged  by  present  values,  but  now  $100,000,000,000 
has,  Aladdin-like,  risen  before  you.  Where  did 
it  come  from?  Listen,  and  I  will  tell  you.  Those 
forest  trees  you  first  peered  at  were  cut  down  by  the 
new  colonizing  workmen  from  Europe  and  built  into 
houses;  that  clay  or  mud  that  had  been  there  for  ages 
was  made  into  brick;  parts  of  those  abiding  granite 
cliffs  were  blasted  into  building  material;  the  buried 
marble  quarries  were  unearthed  and  chiselled  into 
beauty;  the  hidden  and  unknown  coal  mines  were 
worked,  and  the  earth  pierced  for  the  underground 
lakes  of  petroleum;  the  soil  was  tilled  annually  for 
its  products;  on  the  grassy  fields  the  sheep  and  cattle 
were  herded  and  breeded ;  and  year  by  year,  and  dec- 
ade by  decade,  the  people  made  or  erected  their  own 
personal,  particular  handiwork,  and  then  died  and  left 
it  behind  them  for  their  children  and  others.  As  the 
centuries  rolled  by  each  of  the  hundred  years  closed 
with  more  extended  occupation  of  the  land;  with 
more  magnificent  farms  and  farming  outfits;  with 
larger  and  still  grander  cities;  with  houses  more 
stately,  churches  more  beautiful,  stores  and  ware- 


BANKING.  297 

houses  more  replete;  factories  and  shops  enlarged; 
schoolhouses  extended;  and  with  a  wonderfully  in- 
creased population,  having  more  refined  manners  and 
ever-advancing  tastefulness  in  dress  and  attire,  and  of 
love  of  art  in  its  various  forms.  All  of  that  accumu- 
lated wealth  was  being  constantly  wrought  by  days' 
labor  out  of  the  earth  and  water  and  surrounding  air, 
until  at  last,  after  four  hundred  years,  it  has  blossomed 
forth  in  its  glorious  civilized  appearance  of  to-day. 
That  $100,000,000,000  represents  the  progression  of 
raw  material  by  the  aid  of  muscle  and  brain  to  its 
present  completed  state;  it  is  the  accumulated  handi- 
work or  days'  labor  of  man,  and  what  little  of  present 
wealth  or  material  has  been  brought  into  our  country 
from  other  lands  is  fully  offset  by  what  we  have  made 
and  sent  away. 

"  While  you,  up  in  the  balloon,  have  been  looking 
downward  on  the  earth  and  backward  in  time  four 
hundred  years,  and  watching  this  slow  but  sure  accu- 
mulation of  wealth  over  the  whole  vast  area  of  our 
nation,  you  have  seen  the  cities  gradually  growing 
larger  and  larger,  pushing  out  beyond  the  old  corpo- 
ration lines,  and  you  have  seen  surveyors  plotting  out 
the  surrounding  farms  into  divisions  and  sub-divi- 
sions, and  you  have  witnessed  the  opening  of  new 
streets  and  the  erection  of  new  houses,  factories, 
stores,  schools,  churches,  and  institutions.  You  have 
seen  the  forests  cut  away,  and  grain  fields,  barns, 
homes,  and  new  towns  take  their  places;  canals,  rail- 
roads, turnpikes,  and  telegraph  lines  have  been  slowly 
creeping  outward  in  every  direction;  material  was 
transported,  manufactured,  bargained  for  and  sold, 
some  of  it  to  be  used  up  immediately  and  the  rest  of  it 
laid  by  for  future  use.  You  have  seen  fires  burn  some 
of  it  down;  floods  sweep  part  of  it  away;  cyclones 
twist  and  scatter  portions  of  it  in  all  directions;  and 
you  have  seen  ho\v  time,  rust,  and  age  made  much  of 


298  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

it  fall  into  decay.  You  have  also  witnessed  the  im- 
provements which  required  whole  areas  of  the  old 
structures  to  be  torn  down;  but  when  the  end  of  each 
year  arrived  you  noticed,  as  you  went  along,  that  a 
little  increase  in  the  grand  total  of  the  handiwork  of 
the  whole  country  had  taken  place  and  that  it  had 
grown  broader  and  better  in  quality.  Its  vastness  of 
increase  is  more  noticeable  at  the  end  of  each  century, 
and  at  last  when  you  look  at  it  all  at  the  end  of  four 
hundred  years  as  it  stands  to-day,  and  then  go  back 
two  centuries,  you  cannot  help  but  exclaim,  '  Surely 
this  nation  has  proved  itself  industrious — $5000  worth 
of  material  at  Plymouth  Rock  on  landing  day,  and 
now  there  is  $100,000,000,000  worth  of  new-made 
values,'  and  you  cannot  help  saying,  '  Gentlemen,  this 
is  business.' 

"  But  there  is  one  thing  you  must  not  lose  sight  of, 
that  the  land  itself  has  not  increased  in  area,  for  it  is 
all  there  just  as  God  permitted  it  four  hundred  years 
ago,  and  it  is  still  about  four  thousand  miles  deep.  If 
man  did  not  produce  it  then  it  should  not  be  consid- 
ered any  one's  personal  wealth,  and  no  one  should  be 
allowed  to  own  it  except  the  entire  nation. 

"  Men  have  evolved  wrealth  from  the  land  and 
erected  their  handiwork  on  its  surface,  and  whatever 
man  can  get  out  of  the  earth  and  air  and  water  he  is 
entitled  to,  but  there  is  no  good  reason  why  a  few 
people  should  own  the  whole  original  surface.  As 
man  did  not  make  the  land  it  should  not  be  called  or 
classed  as  wealth.  It  belongs  to  the  whole  nation,  to 
the  people  whom  God  placed  on  it;  the  improvement 
is  the  only  wealth,  and  should  be  considered  personal 
property  and  not  taxed.  Nor  should  men  be  allowed 
to  own  the  vast  coal  fields  that  nature  has  preserved 
for  centuries  for  man's  uses.  It  should  all  belong  to 
the  whole  people  or  government,  and  leased  out  in 
such  area  as  a  company  of  men  can  handle,  and  as  the 


BANKING.  299 

years  roll  by  the  generations  get  the  benefit  of  that 
amount  of  coal  that  is  mined  during  that  generation. 

"  The  country  or  land  belongs  to  the  nation,  and 
the  government  should  lease  to  every  one  that  portion 
of  it  that  he  can  industriously  use  and  pay  an  annual 
rent  for.  This  total  rent  should  be  equal  to  the  cost 
of  running  the  Jocal  government,  and  then  every  one 
should  be  encouraged  to  scheme  or  plan  to  get  some- 
thing out  of  the  earth  and  increase  the  wealth  of  the 
nation  and  afterward  be  applauded  for  it,  and  not 
hounded  and  taxed  for  having  an  industrious  dis- 
position or  a  genius  for  directing  business  that  gives 
employment  to  the  rest  of  mankind.  The  laboring 
men  ought  to  thank  heaven  that  there  are  some  men 
on  earth  who  have  brains  enough  to  know  how  to 
make  and  save  money,  so  as  to  direct  and  give  work 
to  others  who  have  no  capacity  for  organizing  and 
directing  business.  The  great  and  vast  majority  of 
these  laboring  men  do  not  know  and  never  will  know 
how  to  save  money,  and  thus  help  others.  It  is  not 
born  in  them,  and  when  from  among  them  a  genius 
for  such  a  calling  is  born,  he  is  sure  to  get  rich  and  be- 
come the  millionaire  of  the  next  generation. 

"  Geniuses  for  music,  painting,  and  poetry  rise  in  the 
same  way  from  the  masses  and  soar  to  the  summit  of 
greatness.  The  parents  or  grandparents  of  almost  all 
of  the  millionaires  of  to-day  were  poor  men.  If  the 
laboring  men  want  to  kill  off  or  cripple  the  genius 
that  makes  the  wealth  of  a  nation,  then  they  are  noth- 
ing but  a  lot  of  idiots,  and  their  lazy  advisers  are  their 
worst  enemies. 

"  While  the  laboring  men  dug  out  all  this  vast 
one  hundred  billion  of  wealth  of  our  nation,  they  must 
not  forget  that  it  took  brains  to  run  and  direct  affairs, 
just  as  it  took  the  brains  of  Grant  to  run  or  direct  a 
million  men  to  a  successful  issue.  If  every  soldier  in 
the  ranks  wanted  to  '  down'  their  general  and  take  his 


300  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

place,  it  would  be  just  as  reasonable  as  for  every  labor- 
ing man  to  want  to  take  the  place  of  his  employer, 
who  is  at  the  head.  The  best  thing  for  the  laborer  to 
do  is  to  save  money  and  try  and  find  out  if  he  has 
genius  to  be  an  employer  himself;  then,  if  he  saves  a 
little  money,  nine  chances  out  of  ten  he  will  lose  it  all 
and  afterward  wish  he  had  been  content  with  his 
humbler  position  and  not  risked  his  savings  in  business. 
The  country  to-day  is  full  of  men  who  have  failed  and 
are  no\v  bitterly  despondent.  They  did  not  have  busi- 
ness genius  or  foresight,  and  the  sooner  they  realize 
that  fact  and  accept  their  failure,  the  sooner  they  and 
their  families  will  be  happy. 

"  A  few  men  stumble  or  fall  into  riches,  but  sooner 
or  later  the  most  of  them  lose  it.  The  vast  majority  of 
rich  men  have  had  a  silent  and  unwritten  fight  and 
battle  for  their  riches  that  would  be  comparable  to  the 
struggleof  a  Caesar  or  a  Napoleon  for  empire,  and  when 
they  come  to  die  most  of  them  will  tell  you  that  the 
game  was  not  worth  the  hunting.  The  only  ones  who 
really  enjoy  the  accumulations  of  wealth  are  their 
heirs;  and  all  is  not  gold  that  glitters,  even  for  those 
who  inherit  riches.  The  most  lasting  satisfaction  one 
gets  out  of  life  is  the  joy  of  helping  others,  and  poor 
men  as  well  as  the  rich  can  find  plenty  of  ways  to  do  it. 

"  As  you  look  from  your  lofty  height  down  on  this 
slow  development  and  piling  up  of  accumulated 
wealth,  and  as  you  follow  it  along  in  steps  of  fifty  or 
seventy-five  years  at  a  time,  you  see  a  certain  portion 
of  it  finished,  the  workers  bidding  good-by  to  their 
families  and  passing  away  into  the  valley  of  death; 
their  children  follow  on  in  the  paths  of  their  fathers, 
or  they  turn  their  attention  to  something  else,  and 
century  by  century  the  value  or  wealth  of  the  com- 
pleted or  permanent  or  fixed  portions  grows  up  into 
high  figures.  The  movable  parts,  such  as  the  crops, 
eatables,  fabrics  for  making  clothing  and  furniture, 


BANKING.  3OI 

building  material  for  new  enterprises,  metals  and 
minerals  being  mined,  the  new  improvements  going 
on,  the  material  for  wars  and  means  of  travelling,  and 
all  that  is  soon  to  become  fixed  wealth — all  these  are 
being  daily  passed  from  hand  to  hand,  requiring  for 
transfer  from  one  person  to  another  a  convenient 
medium  of  exchange  called  money.  If  it  was  cus- 
tomary to  supply  our  wants  by  giving  a  hat  for  a  pair 
of  shoes,  and  two  pairs  of  shoes  for  a  coat,  and  three 
coats  for  a  month's  rent,  etc.,  then  things  would  soon 
become  complicated,  and  every  person,  would  have  to 
spend  the  best  part  of  his  life  in  becoming  an  expert 
as  to  the  value  of  the  different  articles  of  commerce, 
so  as  riot  to  get  cheated  every  time  he  swopped  off. 

''  In  the  course  of  ages  gold  and  silver  have  been 
agreed  on  as  a  medium  of  exchange,  and  in  order  to 
save  every  person  from  being  swindled  with  '  gold 
bricks'  and  from  the  trouble  of  learning  to  judge 
whether  each  piece  of  gold  and  silver  metal  is  pure 
and  genuine,  the  government  has  taken  that  duty 
upon  itself,  guaranteeing  the  people  that  every  piece 
it  stamps  its  name  on  is  genuine  and  all  right;  and 
laws  are  passed  to  punish  any  one  who  would  counter- 
feit or  degrade  the  national  money. 

"  A  dollar  in  gold  or  silver,  or  a  bill,  used  in  cash 
payment  for  goods  or  for  settling  debts,  may  pass  a 
thousand  times  from  hand  to  hand  during  the  course 
of  a  single  year.  Here  is  an  illustration  of  how  a  dollar 
can  circulate  and  what  it  can  accomplish  in  just  one 
minute  of  time.  Ten  hungry,  penniless  boys  are  stand- 
ing on  a  corner  boisterously  quarrelling  about  debts 
they  owe  among  themselves.  Suddenly  a  gentleman 
comes  along  and  pays  boy  No.  i  a  dollar  for  shovel- 
ling coal  for  him  the  day  before.  Boy  No.  2  imme- 
diately borrows  it  from  No.  i,  who  is  his  chum.  Then 
boy  No.  3  addresses  No.  2,  and  asks  him  to  please  pay 
back  the  dollar  he  loaned  him  the  dav  before  No.  2 


302  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

says  yes  and  hands  it  to  No.  3.  No.  3  then  pays  a 
long-standing  debt  of  $i  to  No.  4.  No.  4  immediately 
pays  the  dollar  to  No.  5  for  money  borrowed  the  week 
before.  No.  5  hands  it  to  No.  6,  and  No.  6  to  No.  7, 
and  No.  7  to  No.  8,  and  No.  8  to  No.  9,  and  No.  9  to 
No.  10,  each  one  of  whom,  in  the  order  named,  having 
'been  indebted  to  the  other  in  the  sum  of  $i.  Then 
No.  10,  who  now  has  the  dollar,  and  who  owes  that 
much  to  his  friend,  boy  No.  2,  pays  it  to  No.  2;  and 
then,  last  of  all,  No.  2  turns  around  and  pays  back  to 
No.  i  this  same  dollar  that  he  (No.  2)  a  minute  before 
had  borrowed  from  this  original  boy  No.  i,  who  was 
the  one  that  received  it  from  the  gentleman;  and  just 
as  this  No.  i  receives  it  back  from  No.  2,  another  boy, 
No.  20,  comes  along  and  asks  boy  No.  i  to  pay  him 
a  dollar  that  he  (No.  i)  owes  him,  which  No.  i  imme- 
diately does,  and  then  boy  No.  20  passes  on  down  the 
street  carrying  away  the  dollar  with  him,  leaving  the 
original  ten  hungry  boys  still  on  the  corner  without 
even  a  dollar  or  even  so  much  as  a  penny  between 
them  to  buy  a  sandwich,  but  all  standing  in  wonder- 
ment and  silence  and  somewhat  disappointed,  for  they 
now  have  no  cause  to  continue  their  quarrelling  or  dis- 
puting, their  separate  debts  to  one  another  having 
been  settled.  Then  they  lock  arms  and  walk  away 
with  their  heads  down,  trying  to  think  how  it  was  all 
done;  no  money  at  first  and  still  they  have  none  on 
hand,  but  somehow  their  loans  to  one  another  are  all 
cancelled  and  the  whole  ten  of  them  are  out  of  debt. 
But  please  remember  it  was  labor  (coal  shovelling) 
that  started  that  financial  boom.  Some  one  had  la- 
bored and  earned  the  money. 

"  That  is  the  manner  in  which  it  requires  very  little 
money  to  settle  a  multitude  of  transactions.  A  few 
dollars  if  *  pushed  on'  can  settle  many  debts,  and  if 
people  would  all  pay  their  bills  promptly,  then  the 
whole  country  would  be  running  on  wheels  at  high 


BANKING.  303 

pressure.  But  suppose  one  of  those  boys,  for  in- 
stance No.  6,  had  put  the  dollar  in  his  pocket  and 
kept  it  there  for  a  month  and  refused  to  pay  No.  7, 
then  that  whole  beautiful,  financial,  adjusting  scheme 
would  have  been  blocked,  and  half  of  the  members  of 
that  youthful  crowd  would  have  had  unsettled  bills  to 
collect  and  probably  been  still  at  their  quarrelling.  It 
is  just  the  same  in  business.  If  a  man  receives  money 
from  one  of  his  customers  and  does  not  promptly  pass 
it  on  and  settle  his  own  bills,  he  is  locking  up  just  so 
much  money  from  the  prompt  business  settlements  of 
the  nation,  and  other  people  are  distressed  thereby. 
In  the  old  way  large  sums  used  to  be  buried  or  hidden 
away,  and  that  made  a  break  or  dead  stop  to  the  cir- 
culation of  the  country's  money;  but  in  these  days 
such  hoarding  persons  deposit  it  in  banks;  and  there 
is  this  redeeming  feature  about  such  a  lock-up  of  the 
money — the  bank  will  loan  three-fourths  of  it  to  other 
persons  who  want  to  use  it,  so  banks  help  the  nation 
in  that  manner. 

"  People  who  have  no  money  cannot  be  expected  to 
pay  their  debts,  but  by  getting  in  debt  they  have 
stopped  the  wheels  of  commerce  just  that  much.  But 
if  people  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  money 
would  pay  their  debts  promptly,  or  as  many  of  them 
as  they  can,  it  would  make  a  great  difference  in  the 
business  world.  I  do  not  refer  to  business  houses,  for 
firms  that  never  pay  their  debts  promptly  do  not  last 
long,  but  I  refer  to  individual  purchases  for  personal 
and  home  use. 

"  The  largest  retail  houses  say  they  have  more  dif- 
ficulty in  collecting  their  bills  from  the  rich  than  they 
do  from  others.  The  rich  take  it  for  granted  they  are 
responsible  and  pay  the  stores  at  their  own  sweet  will, 
which  means  when  they  get  ready,  and  the  stores  do 
not  wish  to  offend  their  wealthy  customers  by  urging 
or  excessive  dunning.  If  the  rich  would  pay  their  bills 


304  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

with  reasonable  promptness,  it  would  be  a  great  help 
in  pushing  things  along.  If  prosperous  people  can- 
not pay  cash  for  the  things  they  eat  and  wear,  they 
ought  not  to  have  them;  yet  many  men  and  women 
pay  for  their  clothes  six  months  after  they  are  worn 
out  or  discarded,  and  the  tradesmen  must  suffer  in 
silence  for  the  want  of  their  money. 

"  The  banking  business  originally  started  in  a  crude 
way.  People  who  accumulated  gold  and  silver  coin 
found  it  too  heavy  to  carry  around  with  them,  and 
being  afraid  it  might  be  stolen,  they  brought  it  to  some 
trustworthy  man  who  had  a  strong  iron  chest  and 
who  was  willing  to  be  a  banker,  and  asked  him  to 
take  care  of  the  money.  The  banker  took  the  money, 
and  as  the  depositor,  as  a  general  rule,  could  neither 
read  nor  write,  he  (the  banker)  took  a  pine  stick  and 
on  it  cut  an  equal  number  of  notches  at  both  ends, 
each  notch  representing  a  given  sum  of  money.  Then 
he  broke  the  stick  at  the  centre  into  two  parts,  giving 
one  to  the  depositor  and  keeping  the  other  himself,  and 
placing  it  in  the  iron  chest.  When  the  depositor  in  a 
week  or  a  month,  or  years  after,  returned  or  sent 
some  one  else  for  his  money,  the  two. sticks  were  again 
placed  together,  and  if  the  ragged,  splintered  ends 
fitted  in,  or  meshed  exactly  together,  then  it  was  con- 
sidered the  genuine  original  stick  and  no  counterfeit, 
the  '  wooden  check'  was  cashed,  and  the  depositor  re- 
ceived an  equal  amount  of  money  back.  In  later 
years  almost  the  same  thing  was  done  on  a  piece  of 
paper,  by  writing  the  history  of  the  transaction,  and 
then  raggedly  tearing  the  paper  into  two  parts,  and 
at  a  later  time  when  the  ragged  edges  of  the  two  torn 
parts  were  again  brought  together  and  exactly  fitted, 
the  money  was  paid  back. 

"  After  that,  many  improvements  were  made  in 
banking,  and  as  education  increased  the  masses 
learned  to  read  and  write,  and  adopted  the  modern 


BANKING.  305 

style  of  checks,  and  banking  houses  became  numer- 
ous. But  some  bankers  became  dishonest,  and  then 
the  government  considered  it  its  duty  to  protect  the 
people.  It  stepped  in  and  passed  such  laws  as  it 
thought  best  devised  to  defend  the  depositors,  for  it 
was  found  that  an  individual  banker  or  a  banking  in- 
stitution could  receive  a  million  dollars  from  various 
depositors  and  loan  it  all  out  at  interest*  and  some 
morning  find  there  was  not  a  cent  on  hand  to  pay 
checks.  So  after  considerable  experience,  and  by 
averaging  the  amount  people  were  in  the  habit  of 
drawing  out  daily,  it  was  found  that  banks  could  safely 
loan  out  three-quarters  of  all  the  money  deposited 
with  them,  and  one-fourth  was  enough  cash  to  keep 
on  hand  to  meet  the  usual  daily  demand.  So  one- 
fourth  of  all  the  money  deposited  in  banks  became  the 
reserve  or  cash  banking  capital  of  the  country,  but 
there  was  millions  of  coin  not  in  the  banks,  carried  in 
people's  pockets  and  hidden  away. 

"  Now  suppose  from  your  lofty  balloon  you  could 
look  down  and  see  all  the  money  in  the  country 
brought  some  Monday  morning  and  deposited  in  the 
banks — that  is,  all  the  money  excepting  nickels,  dimes, 
quarters,  and  half  dollars — the  result  would  be  that  the 
bankers  would  be  loaded  down  with  cash;  and  sup- 
pose a  law  had  been  passed  that  after  that  date  in  all 
money  transactions  between  citizens  checks  and  not 
money  should  be  given  for  sums  of  one  dollar  and 
over,  and  that  all  the  money  in  the  banks  should  re- 
main there  as  a  reserve,  and  only  be  passed  from  bank 
to  bank,  as  the  balance  of  trade  became  in  favor  or 
against  the  various  banks.  The  result  would  be  that 
checks  would  answer  every  purpose  of  gold  or  silver 
or  bills,  and  there  would  really  be  no  use  for  the  old 
money  at  all,  for  if  the  bankers  could  send  all  the  gold 
and  silver  out  of  the  country  and  return  the  bills  to  the 
government  and  replace  it  all  with  good  mortgages 


306  THE  KITE   TRUST. 

or  government  bonds,  or  something  that  the  people 
considered  first-class  security,  then  they  would  be  sat- 
isfied that  their  deposits  were  safe,  just  as  they  were 
formerly  satisfied  with  a  lot  of  gold  and  silver  that 
rested  in  the  bank  safes  almost  permanently,  not 
being  removed  from  the  bank  once  in  ten  years. 

"  Now  what  could  the  government  replace  the  bills 
with  instead  of  the  greenbacks  withdrawn?  If  checks 
were  adopted,  a  new  form  of  greenback  payable  to 
bearer,  and  arranged  exactly  as  a  check  in  wording, 
shape,  and  size,  could  be  made,  good  for  only  one 
month  from  date  of  issue,  and  not  good  after  that 
time,  but  to  be  returned  to  the  treasury  for  cancella- 
tion and  reissue.  In  this  manner  the  new  check 
money  could  riot  be  hoarded  or  locked  up  for  unfair 
commercial  or  speculative  purposes,  and  the  people 
could  do  without  gold  and  silver  except  for  one  pur- 
pose, the  settlement  of  foreign  trade  balances,  which 
would  be  required  in  gold.  (Silver  is  already  demon- 
etized and  not  needed  for  that  purpose.) 

"  All  transactions  within  the  country  would  be  re- 
quired to  be  settled  in  individual  checks  or  the  check 
money  of  our  country,  unless  otherwise  specified,  and 
if  any  person  wanted  to  make  a  contract  payable  in 
gold  he  could  do  so,  taking  his  risk  when  settling  the 
debt,  the  same  as  he  would  if  he  had  made  the  obliga- 
tion payable  in  diamonds  or  rubies. 

"  The  greatest  of  all  complications  would  be  in  the 
settlement  of  the  trade  balance  in  gold  required  by 
other  nations.  There  is  the  rub,  and  this  was  where 
the  old  Greenback  Party  always  ran  up  against  a 
stone  wall  and  broke  its  back.  There  is  only  one 
answer  to  it,  and  that  is,  that  we  cannot  change  the 
gold  standard  as  we  have  it  at  present.  All  my  talk  is 
for  nothing  as  far  as  that  question  is  concerned,  and 
the  gold  standard  will  have  to  remain  as  it  is  as  long 
as  other  nations  hold  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars 


BANKING.  3O7 

worth  of  our  bonds  and  stocks  that  they  can  threaten 
to  send  back  to  us  any  day.  The  greenbackers  reply : 
'  Then  let  them  send  them  back ;'  but  when  foreigners 
choose  to  send  our  stocks  back  in  large  quantities 
the  market  goes  down  over  in  Europe,  and  that  sends 
our  market  down  here,  and  when  the  bottom  falls  out 
of  the  stock  market  here,  half  of  our  nation  becomes 
bankrupt.  Then  the  greenbackers  say :  'Let  them  be- 
come bankrupt/  which  only  shows  that  they  are  a  lot 
of  unfair  people.  They  would  not  say  any  such  thing 
if  they  had  any  property  or  anything  of  their  own  to 
lose,  but  they  have  not,  and  they  are  perfectly  willing 
to  see  every  other  person  in  the  country  lose  if  they 
can  only  carry  out  their  plans  for  getting  hold  of  the 
government,  where  they  can  get  fat  salaries  at  some 
one's  else  expense. 

"  There  is  only  one  thing  about  it,  and  that  is,  as 
long  as  we  individually  owe  our  banks  some  money, 
we  have  to  step  up  to  the  counter  and  settle  it  accord- 
ing to  the  bank's  custom,  or  else  get  ourselves  in 
trouble ;  and  likewise  as  long  as  Europe  is  our  banker 
we  have  to  conform  to  requirements  of  international 
banking  custom  or  else  we  will  be  discredited  as  a 
commercial  nation. 

"  Some  of  these  days  our  country  will  be  the  banker 
of  the  world,  and  then  everything  will  come  our  way. 
We  shall  own  all  our  own  stocks  and  bonds,  and  be 
taking  in  interest  from  Europe,  the  same  as  they  are 
doing  now  from  us. 

"  There  is  only  one  remedy  for  gold  payments,  and 
that  is  time.  Time  will  make  all  things  right,  and 
there  is  no  right  in  a  proposition  that  the  world 
should  subsidize  the  gold  industry.  It  has  lately  de- 
throned silver  and  put  it  where  it  rightfully  belongs — 
which  is  in  the  world  of  competition,  and  where  it  has 
to  fight,  its  own  battles  under  the  laws  of  supply  and 
demand,  like  everything  else.  Gold  will  have  to  be 


308  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

there  some  day.  It  will  eventually  have  to  settle  to 
the  level  of  all  worldly  productions,  selling  for  what 
it  will  bring  just  the  same  as  all  the  rest  of  our  world's 
manufactures;  but  before  that  time  comes  the  nations 
will  have  to  devise  some  plan  of  accepting  a  medium 
of  exchange  that  has  no  power  in  itself  to  expand  or 
contract  like  gold,  and  the  only  thing  on  earth  that 
answers  that  description^  land. 

"  The  land  belongs  to  the  nations  and  not  to  the  in- 
dividuals. On  it  they  should  live,  and  on  it  they 
should  base  their  unit  of  value. 

"  Gold  and  silver  may  disappear  from  off  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth,  productions  of  other  kinds  may 
change  in  their  quality  or  in  supply  and  demand,  but 
when  the  land  disappears,  then  mankind  will  have  no 
use  for  money  or  merchandise  standards  of  any  kind, 
with  probably  the  exception  of  feathers — for  they  will 
be  greatly  in  need  of  wings,  quite  heavily  coated  and 
doubly  lined  with  celestial  down  of  some  kind." 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

EDUCATION. 

THE  modern  system  of  education  may  no  doubt  be 
perfectly  satisfactory  to  those  fortunate  publishers  and 
authors  who  are  realizing  a  large  income  from  copy- 
righted school-books  for  the  young,  but  it  is  to  IDC 
hoped  the  day  will  soon  come  when  what  is  known  as 
higher  education  will  be  simplified  so  that  poor  chil- 
dren under  the  age  of  twelve  can  be  made  to  grasp  at 
least  sufficient  of  scientific  lore  to  enable  them  to  have 
some  pleasure  in  after  life  from  early  familiarity  with 
nature's  underlying  principles. 

Most  children  leave  school  before  they  reach  their 
"  teens,"  and  carry  away  with  them  a  knowledge  of 
reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  a  little  grammar,  some 
geography,  and  a  smattering  of  history,  alt  of  which 
is  good  and  practical.  But  as  America  is  a  growing 
nation  of  artisans  and  wealth-producers,  the  masses, 
that  number  millions,  should  be  from  childhood,  even 
almost  from  babyhood,  taught  more  of  nature,  from 
which  all  wealth  is  produced  and  from  which  they,  in  * 
some  manner,  earn  their  living. 

The  boy  who  leaves  school  at  the  age  of  twelve  to 
start  at  a  trade  has  studied  and  been  obliged  to  mem- 


3IO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

orize  page  after  page  regarding  the  French  and 
Indian  War,  which  occurred  over  a  hundred  years  be- 
fore, and  also  a  mass  of  other  similar  information. 
Would  it  not  have  been  of  far  more  advantage  to  the 
masses  to  have  been  obliged  to  study  something  else 
that  would  have  unfolded  and  made  plain  the  work- 
ings of  nature;  for  instance,  the  causes  of  the  rain 
storm  that  is  liable  to  occur  at  any  hour?  A  knowl- 
edge of  history  is  not  to  be  belittled,  but  there  are 
other  branches  more  practical  for  a  lifetime,  and  what 
is  more  useful  to  a  child  than  familiarity  with  such 
subjects  as  rain?  Does  he  know  how  the  water  was 
lifted  from  the  salty  ocean,  and  why  it  did  not  taste 
salty  when  it  fell  upon  the  earth  ?  Does  he  know  that 
after  the  rain  sinks -into  the  soil  and  makes  its  way  out 
again  in  the  cooling  springs,  why  some  of  these 
springs  are  pure  and  fresh  while  others  burst  forth  as 
seltzer,  vichy,  geyser,  and  various  medicinal  liquids? 
If  a  boy  is  poor  and  cannot  avail  himself  of  the  high 
school  or  college,  is  there  any  reason  why  he  should 
not  be  sent  forth  from  the  district  school  filled  with 
information  about  oxygen  and  hydrogen  gases,  and 
know  that  in  nine  pounds  of  water  eight  are  oxygen 
and  one  is  hydrogen?  That  may  seem  to  some  people 
a  worthless  thing  to  know;  but  why  should  a  boy  not 
be  familiar  with  these  scientific  names,  and  thus  have 
a  knowledge  about  the  water  that  plays  such  an  al- 
most unlimited  part  in  every-day  life  and  especially  in 
the  nation's  manufactures?  To  know  something 
about  such  things  in  after  life  might  set  a  man  to 
thinking,  to  develop  his  inventive  talent,  and  so  lead 
to  fortune. 

The  infant's  head  is  literally  filled  full  of  fairy  stories 
'from  the  time  it  is  able  to  understand  until  it  is  tired 
and  surfeited  with  such  unprofitable  knowledge.  The 
child  is  also  brought  up  on  a  series  of  deceptions  that 
eventually  bloom  to  the  young  mind  as  nothing  but 


EDUCATION.  311 

flagrant  falsehoods,  such  as  the  Santa  Claus  and  Kris 
Kringle  foolery,  and  the  stories  of  children  born  in 
hollow  trees  and  dug  out  of  "  the  cold,  cold  ground" 
by  doctors. 

Life  is  very  short  and  the  brain  is  a  receptacle  for 
storing  up  impressions  that  will  be  of  the  best  advan- 
tage during  life,  and  will  direct  it  for  eternity,  and  the 
above  forms  of  unprofitable  brain  stuffing  should  give 
way  to  a  new  system  of  teaching  children  (even  if  nec- 
essary in  childish  prattle)  those  secrets  of  nature 
which  are  to  be  found  on  every  hand  from  the  hour  of 
birth  up  to  the  last  minute  on  earth. 

There  is  enough  of  beauty  in  the  wonders  of  nature 
for  a  new  set  of  writers  to  compose  a  fresh  system  of 
school-books,  brimful  of  the  happiest  kind  of  scien- 
tific information,  that  would  please  the  youngest.  In 
rhyme  and  jingles  could  be  condensed  useful  knowl- 
edge that  would  assist  us  in  after  and  maturer  life, 
which  would  helpfully  take  the  place  of  "  Little  Bo 
Peep,"  "  Old  Mother  Hubbard,"  and  all  the  rest  of 
those  nursery  rhymes.  The  childhood  books  should 
have  more  verses  like 

"  Little  drops  of  water, 
Little  grains  of  sand, 
Make  the  mighty  ocean, 
And  the  beauteous  land." 

There  should  be  more  of  the  old  Rollo  and  Abbott 
books  and  Franconia  stories. 

Is  there  any  child  of  five  who  could  not  readily 
learn  why  the  flowers  have  such  beautiful  colors  and 
why  they  are  so  sweetly  scented?  He  could  under- 
stand why  the  bees  are  drawn  to  them,  and  how  the 
insects  enter  within  the  open  leaves  and  gather  the 
honey,  and  at  the  same  time  cover  themselves  with 
and  carry  the  pollen  to  other  flowers  that  need  the 


312  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

pollen,  and  help  to  complete  the  succession  and  evo- 
lution of  the  flowery  kingdom. 

All  this  kind  of  information  can  be  placed  before 
a  child  in  simple  and  beautiful  language,  and  will 
wonderfully  interest  him  if  properly  presented  amid 
the  living  flowers  themselves.  And  has  not  every 
home  and  school  and  neighborhood  flowers  at  com- 
mand? 

Thousands  of  humble  homes  could  utilize  the  house 
tops  and  easily  make  one  or  two  hundred  dollars  a 
year  from  honey  and  wax  by  raising  bees,  and  the  ob- 
ject lesson  of  the  bees  and  flowers,  if  properly  pre- 
sented, would  give  rise  to  a  desire  for  further  informa- 
tion that  could  flow  into  little  heads,  and  would  be  an 
excellent  substitute  for  the  mass  of  useless  items  that 
are  daily  stored  away  in  the  brain  of  the  young. 

A  child  by  the  time  it  is  twelve  learns  more  prac- 
tical knowledge  than  it  does  all  the  remainder  of  its 
days.  If  you  will  think  upon  this  last  statement,  you 
will  more  and  more  see  that  almost  all  a  child  learns 
after  it  enters  its  teens  consists  of  modifications  and 
changes  on  the  basic  information  previously  gar- 
nered. 

There  is  such  a  wonderful,  endless  amount  of 
knowledge  to  be  obtained  in  this  world  that  no  one 
person  can  ever  grasp  it  all.  What  earthly  use  is  it  to 
try  to  learn  by  heart  the  scientific  names  of  every  but- 
terfly known  or  every  flower  grown?  It  is  well  for 
some  one  to  know  them,  as  the  subject  is  part  of  the 
sum  total  of  human  knowledge,  and  we  should  en- 
courage those  few  who  like  such  things  to  continue  in 
such  departments  of  learning.  But  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  persons  out  of  a  thousand  have  no  time 
to  get  information  that  is  useless  to  them.  They  do 
not  study  navigation,  for  they  have  confidence  in  the 
experienced  captain  on  the  ship's  bridge  who  has  their 
lives  in  his  hand  as  he  guides  the  vessel  from  the  hur- 


EDUCATION.  313 

ricane's  fury  past  the  breakers  to  the  harbor  within. 
We  have  to  trust  to  others  in  the  higher  branches;  but 
when  it  comes  to  the  simple,  every-day  workings  of 
nature,  to  be  seen  on  every  hand,  it  is  unfortunate  that 
men  and  women  grow  from  youth  to  old  age  and  do 
not  have  the  joy  of  knowing,  for  instance,  why  a  piece 
of  sugar  melts  faster  near  the  surface  of  a  cup  of  tea 
than  it  does  at  the  bottom,  or  why  the  little  air  bubbles 
collect  around  the  sides  of  a  cup  of  coffee  instead  of 
at  the  centre.  Some  one  may  say  what  is  the  use  of 
educating  one's  self  to  such  things,  but  the  reply  is 
that  if  you  know  the  reason,  then  you  are  cognizant 
of  great  principles  that  you  will  meet  daily  in  a  thou- 
sand other  forms  and  conditions,  such  as  why  an  apple 
falls  to  the  ground,  or  how  the  sap  of  a  tree  flows  up- 
ward, or  why,  if  the  earth  is  round,  the  people  on  the 
other  side  beneath  do  not  fall  off  head  foremost. 
Having  knowledge,  man  has  an  independence  of  spirit 
and  joy  in  life  that  cannot  be  realized  by  those  who 
"  do  not  know." 

What  is  the  best  information  to  have  is  a  question 
that  few  would  agree  upon.  The  most  useful  educa- 
tion is  a  knowledge  of  nature  and  her  forces :  of  winds, 
rain,  snow,  cold,  heat,  light,  sound,  taste,  storm, 
lightning,  thunder,  sun,  moon,  planets,  stars,  clouds, 
ocean,  water,  coal,  gravity,  ice,  air,  vapors,  smoke, 
lamps,  fire,  rust,  tarnish,  froth,  damp,  hail,  rainbows, 
colors,  echoes,  sleep,  tides,  earthquakes,  whirlpools, 
cyclones,  and  of  the  human  body  and  its  workings. 
Why  should  not  a  child's  head  be  a  receptacle  for  in- 
formation on  the  above  subjects,  all  of  which  are  use- 
ful for  a  lifetime?  Surely  they  are  a  great  improve- 
ment over  stories  about  Cinderella,  Jack  and  the 
Bean  Stalk  and  such  useless  fairy  tales. 

It  would  be  beyond  the  knowledge  of  any  human 
being  to  grasp  in  their  fulness  all  the  above-men- 
tioned subjects.  The  man  that  says  he  knows  the 


314  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

most  about  them  is  generally  the  one  who  knows  the 
least,  and  when  the  greatest  minds  of  earth,  whoever 
they  may  be,  who  have  made  such  things  a  life  study, 
sit  down  to  think  over  what  they  know,  they  are 
forced  to  say  that  there  is  so  much  more  to  learn  that 
is  beyond  their  ability  to  grasp  that  they  think  they 
know  almost  nothing,  and  with  Whittier  exclaim : 

"  I  better  know  than  all, 
How  little  I  have  gained, 
How  vast  the  unattained." 

The  more  a  man  learns  the  more  modest  and  humble 
he  becomes,  as  he  soon  finds  himself  face  to  face  with 
what  is  far  above  him. 

There  should  be  a  child's  primer  of  nature  that 
every  one  under  ten  should  be  compelled  to  study. 
Such  a  book  should  be  of  equal  importance  with  geog- 
raphy, history,  and  grammar,  and  public  schools 
should  adopt  such  books  and  make  the  teaching  of 
nature  in  simple  language  obligatory  on  all  teachers, 
so  that  when  their  pupils  go  forth  to  their  life's  work 
at  an  early  age  they  can  carry  with  them  in  memory 
a  little,  if  only  a  superficial,  knowledge  of  the  animal, 
vegetable,  and  mineral  kingdoms  and  the  forces  gov- 
erning the  same.  This  would  help  mankind  to  know 
more  of  the  world  in  which  they  are  living  and  the 
laws  governing  and  surrounding  the  raw  material 
which  they  are  engaged  in  manufacturing  into  ob- 
jects of  use  and  beauty. 

Do  not  infer  from  what  I  have  said  about  cram- 
ming or  stuffing  children's  heads,  that  I  mean  the 
brain  of  any  one  can  be  filled  with  knowledge  by  the 
will  of  any  teacher  or  set  of  teachers,  for  that  is  not 
true.  A  great  tank  of  petroleum  may  have  many 
pipes  leading  from  it  that  by  gravity  are  capable  of 
filling  up  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  empty  barrels  at 


EDUCATION.  315 

one  time.  Such  is  not  the  case  in  a  schoolroom  where 
there  are  a  hundred  scholars  and  one  instructor  gives 
information.  The  teacher  talks,  explains,  and  lectures, 
and  every  ear  receives  the  same  wording,  but  upon  a 
hundred  brains  are  made  as  many  different  impres- 
sions. 

A  teacher's  function  is  to  inspire.  A  teacher's 
duties  end  with  his  or  her  effort  to  stimulate  the  activ- 
ity of  a  child's  brain  so  that  it  will  permit  itself  to 
receive  knowledge.  You  cannot  pour  information 
into  any  one's  brain,  any  more  than  you  can  "  learn" 
a  child  history.  You  can  teach,  but  the  child  must 
do  the  learning,  and  its  own  mental  activity  or  re- 
ceptivity and  willingness  marks  the  rising  or  falling  in 
the  thermometer  of  brain  development.  What  a  child 
wills  to  know  is  the  brain's  measure  of  capacity, 
which,  of  course,  is  governed  by  the  quality  of  brain 
inheritance,  or  the  brain  improvement  of  the  in- 
dividual. 

The  teacher's  office  is  to  make  pleasing  to  a  child 
the  various  divisions  of  the  sum  total  of  human  knowl- 
edge by  presenting  word  pictures  that  will  produce 
in  the  child  a  longing  for  a  closer  intimacy  with  the 
subject.  That  is  what  is  meant  when  I  say  that  pleas- 
ing books  on  nature  should  be  written  that  will  pro- 
duce a  mental  desire  to  love  useful  information  about 
nature,  instead  of  having  the  mind  in  a  never-ending 
hodge-podge  of  fairy  tales. 

Thousands  of  ignorant  workmen  in  their  daily 
avocations  have  observed  phenomena  that  were  noth- 
ing to  them  but  a  passing  curiosity,  but  if  they  had 
gained  in  their  common  school  education  the  smallest 
amount  of  information  about  nature,  it  would  have 
set  them  to  thinking  and  caused  them  to  report  about 
it  to  others,  which  might,  by  discussion,  have  resulted 
in  the  discovery  of  some  secret  of  nature  that  would 
have,  been  of  great  benefit  to  the  world  and  made  them 


316  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

independent  in  means  and  useful  to  their  employers. 
The  humblest  persons  have  it  within  their  power  to 
discover  for  the  world  the  unnumbered,  unknown, 
and  undreamed-of  secrets  that  are  still  hidden  around 
us  in  the  air,  sky,  earth,  and  water,  and  the  more  our 
boys  and  girls  who  cannot  go  to  college  learn  before 
they  leave  school  from  some  simply  worded  book 
of  the  known  laws  underlying  nature,  the  more  joy 
they  will  have  in  their  own  lives  and  the  greater  bless- 
ing they  will  be  to  mankind,  and  the  sooner,  too,  will 
their  own  country  be  foremost  in  commercial  prog- 
ress. 

This  primer  of  science  for  the  young  \vould  not  in- 
jure the  rich  schoolboy;  it  would  be  an  introduction 
for  the  favored  ones  who  can  finish  a  college  educa- 
tion. A  longing  for  proficiency  in  Latin  and  Greek 
and  the  most  advanced  scientific  learning  is  to  be  ad- 
mired in  youth  and  manhood,  but  nature  has  come 
to  stay  as  long  as  the  world  lasts,  while  Greek  and 
Latin  will  some  day  be  things  of  the  dead  past;  con- 
sequently, for  the  great  masses,  nature  should  be  first 
as  a  branch  of  education  and  all  should  learn  to  know 
about  what  is  continually  going  on  around  them  in 
both  the  seen  and  the  unseen. 

May  the  era  be  hastened  when  four  hours  shall  be  a 
day's  work  for  every  man,  woman,  or  child,  and  when 
the  whole  world  shall  covet  spare  hours  in  order  to  be 
able  to  reach  up  for  that  higher  knowledge  that  shall 
make  life  easier,  nobler,  and  more  helpful  to  others. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

MADAME  GUYON. 

THE  night  of  the  i8th  of  January  will  ever 
be  a  memorable  one  to  Flynn  &  Schmidt  and  their 
young  counsellor. 

It  was  the  first  time  for  many  months  that  a  harsh 
word  had  passed  between  them.  Sally  was  present, 
and  the  conversation  turned  on  "  woman's  voting,"  a 
subject  that  was  being  energetically  discussed  in  the 
daily  papers.  Both  Micky  and  Fred  were  most  vio- 
lently and  unquestionably  opposed  to  any  such  "  glar- 
ing nonsense,"  while  Ed  upheld  Sally  in  her  endeav- 
ors to  give  women  every  right  that  man  had. 

Miss  Bridget  McMullen  was  the  cause  of  the  whole 
trouble.  She  was  the  sister  of  Barney  McMullen, 
who  had  lived  for  many  years  on  the  banks  of  the 
canal  out  at  Brighton.  Thirty  summers  before  they 
had  come  over  as  little  orphans  from  Ireland,  and  had 
passed  through  poverty's  deepest  struggle  up  to" 
middle  age,  but  at  last  Barney  drifted  into  politics, 
was  elected  Alderman,  succeeded  finally  in  becoming 
the  district  boss,  and  at  last  reached  the  high  position 
of  political  boss  of  the  whole  town.  This  honor,  with 


318  THE  KITE  TRUST: 

the  riches  it  brought,  so  completely  turned  his  head 
that  it  became  almost  impossible  for  Bridget  to  keep 
house  for  her  bachelor  brother  with  any  degree  of 
comfort  to  herself  or  to  him  either.  She  was  fair,  fat, 
forty,  and  free — that  is,  free  from  the  bonds  of  matri- 
mony. The  reason  for  the  last-named  condition  was 
not  because  she  had  never  had  opportunities  for  tak- 
ing unto  herself  a  husband,  for,  on  the  contrary,  a 
hundred  of  Barney's  unmarried  compatriots  would 
have  been  only  too  glad  to  have  led  the  great  ex-Al- 
derman's sister  to  the  altar,  but  it  was  almost  as  much 
as  a  man's  life  was  worth  to  have  addressed  her  on  the 
subject  of  matrimony.  She  hated  men  from  the 
bottom  of  her  heart,  and  when  she  began  to  realize 
that  her  brother  Barney  was  being  almost  worshipped 
by  his  admiring  countrymen  of  his  own  political 
party,  it  puzzled  her  to  find  out  what  there  was  about 
Barney  that  made  him  any  better  than  anybody  else. 
She  was  five  years  his  senior,  and  remembered  that  he 
was  born  in  a  bog,  raised  in  a  hovel,  played  "  hookey" 
from  school,  and  never  had  any  particular  education. 
For  thirty  years  it  had  been  a  struggle  for  him  to  get 
enough  to  eat  and  wear,  and  now  to  see  him  not  do 
work  of  any  kind,  suddenly  get  rich,  be  one  of  the 
governors  of  the  city — the  power  beyond  the  mayor- 
alty throne — and  have  people  coining  by  the  hundred 
to  their  grand  new  house  and  to  his  office  at  the  hotel 
to  ask  him  to  do  them  favors,  and  to  see  him  ride  at 
the  head  of  the  procession  on  St.  Patrick's  Day,  all 
of  these  incidents  and  others  too  numerous  to  men- 
tion caused  her  at  first  to  laugh  to  herself  and  think 
in  a  rather  sarcastic  frame  of  mind  and  say  to  herself : 
"  Well,  if  the  rulers  and  bosses  of  the  cities  are  made 
from  such  stuff,  then  I  know  a  hundred  women  who 
have  more  sense  than  Barney  and  could  conduct  city 
affairs  better."  This  primary  seed,  accidentally  sown 
in  her  heart,  resulted  in  Bridget's  joining  the 


MADAME  GUYON.  319 

Women's  Rights  Association.  From  that  time  she  grew 
and  grew  in  the  "  suffrage"  faith  and  "  talked  up" 
her  own  sex,  and  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  preach 
the  doctrine  to  every  woman  that  ran  across  her  path; 
and  it  so  happened  upon  the  aforementioned  eight- 
eenth day  of  January  that  she  met  Mrs.  Flynn  and 
Sally,  and  fairly  deluged  them  with  information  re- 
garding the  wrongs  of  woman. 

The  overflow  of  Sally's  indignation  at  her  newly 
found  ideas  of  the  unfair  manner  in  which  women 
were  treated  was  still  rankling  in  her  bosom,  and 
caused  the  subject  to  come  before  the  kite  firm  upon 
that  particular  evening.  Before  they  knew  it  a  regu- 
lar quarrel  was  in  progress,  which,  by  the  unfortunate 
introduction  into  the  discussion  of  the  topic  of  re- 
ligion, almost  ended  in  a  cessation  of  friendship. 

Micky  and  Sally  were  Catholics,  Fred  was  a  Lu- 
theran, and  Ed  an  Episcopalian,  and  almost  unaware 
they  found  themselves  drifting  into  a  sea  of  loud 
words  and  unkind  reproaches.  Fred  cast  some  re- 
flections on  the  Catholics,  while  Sally  threw  slurs  at 
Luther.  Micky  made  some  slighting  remark  about 
Henry  VIII.  and  the  English  Church,  which  brought 
from  Ed  some  uncomplimentary  allusions  regarding 
Loyola  and  the  popes. 

There  is  no  telling  what  might  have  occurred  to 
the  discordant  quartette  if  the  unexpected  had  not 
happened,  for  right  in  the  midst  of  the  conversation 
Sally  suddenly  fell  backward  in  her  chair  in  a  swoon, 
which  astonished  all  the  party  excepting  Micky,  who 
knowingly  stood  unmoved,  but  turned  as  white  as  a 
sheet  when  he  saw  the  same  fixed  look  spread  over  his 
sister's  face,  and  heard  the  same  deep  and  irregular 
breathing  with  which  he  had  become  familiar  on  that 
awful  night  when  the  ghost  of  Blavatsky  appeared 
and  nearly  frightened  him  out  of  his  life.  He  had  no 
time  to  explain,  or  even  to  attempt  to  awaken  Sally, 


320  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

for  almost  instantly  there  came  a  crash  of  seeming 
mammoth  cymbals  like  a  peal  of  deepest  thunder. 
Like  a  flash  the  chairs  flew  up  with  a  bang  against  the 
cellar  ceiling,  the  table  raised  up  half  way  from  the 
floor  and  whirled  horizontally  around  with  the  speed 
of  an  engine  fly-wheel,  while  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
kite  sticks  flew  out  of  the  corner  in  a  cloud,  com- 
pletely encircling  the  entire  trembling  group.  After 
ten  seconds,  with  another  clap  of  thunder,  everything 
that  had  been  moving  settled  down  in  its  accustomed 
place  as  quiet  as  the  grave. 

It  was  Fred's  first  experience  with  the  occult,  and 
at  the  first  crash  his  eyes  nearly  popped  out  of  their 
sockets,  and  making  a  wild  grab  for  Ed's  arm,  he 
held  on  like  grim  death.  Ed  was  also  nearly  terror- 
stricken,  and  would  have  bolted  for  the  stairs,  but  his 
abiding  faith  in  manfully  upholding,  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, the  powerful  name  of  the  great  firm  of 
Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  gave  him  courage  and  he 
stood  his  ground.  There  was  a  confused  mental  im- 
pression underlying  his  fear,  that  as  he  was  counsel 
for  the  kite  firm,  he  must  take  notes  of  the  impend- 
ing surrounding  danger  for  evidence  in  any  suit  for 
damages  that  might  result  from  the  unexplained 
action  of  the  furniture  and  kite  sticks.  When  the 
second  crash  came  it  was  too  much  for  Fred's  nerves, 
for  with  one  yell  of  horror  he  broke  loose  from  Ed 
and  ran  and  tumbled  head  foremost,  or,  more  prop- 
erly speaking,  smoothly  glided,  eel  fashion,  and  dis- 
appeared in  a  large  empty  dry-goods  box  standing  in 
the  corner. 

After  a  short  silence  there  came  another  dreadful 
noise,  and  then  for  five  minutes  there  was  a  succession 
of  "spiritualistic"  crashing  peals;  shifting  and  whirl- 
ing of  table,  chairs,  and  materials;  extinguishing  of 
lights  and  introduction  of  electric  flashes,  alternating 
with  humming  of  innumerable  voices  and  musical 


MADAME  GUYON.  321 

sounds,  until  with  a  most  dreadful,  deafening"  noise 
the  whole  cellar  seemed  rilled  with  a  brilliant,  almost 
blinding  flame,  from  the  midst  of  which,  when  the  eye 
could  receive  it,  appeared  the  form  of  Blavatsky  in 
wonderfully  gorgeous  Oriental  apparel,  and  in  all 
directions  her  name  was  brilliantly  flashed  in  a  multi- 
tude of  unreadable  alphabets. 

Blavatsky  eyed  Ed  and  Micky  for  a  moment,  and 
then  addressed  them  as  follows : 

"  You  are  children  of  destiny — I  would  instruct 
you.  I  would  tell  you  of  the  world  of  sorrow  that 
some  men  bring  to  earth  under  the  name  of  religion; 
but  when  from  spirit  life  I  am  materialized,  as  I  now 
am,  I  am  too  loaded  down  with  the  passion  of  my 
former  bodily  existence  to  speak  calmly  of  the  wrong 
that  '  creed'  is  working  on  the  earth,  and  so  I  will 
call  to  your  presence  a  woman  of  women,  a  soul  of 
souls,  to  talk  to  you  of  your  future  duty  to  the  age  in 
which  you  live.  She  who  will  come  is  worthy,  pure, 
and  good,  and  one  to  whom  a  universe  should  grandly 
lend  a  listening  ear.  What  she  may  say  I  bid  you 
treasure  in  your  deepest  heart,  treasure  it  to  help 
eventually  to  save  a  world  by  telling  it  to  men  of 
differing  minds ;  and  so,  good  Madame  Guyon,  good, 
holy  Madame  Guyon,  I  bid  you  come.  Appear! 
appear!" 

Immediately,  filling  the  entire  place,  there  came  a 
purple  light  that,  amid  the  profoundest  silence,  slowly 
blended  into  blue,  which  in  its  turn  changed  gently  to 
a  golden  hue,  deepening  thicker  and  thicker  toward 
a  common  centre,  growing  more  and  more  intense 
and  condensed  until  it  took  on  a  form  which  gently 
and  slowly  took  human  shape.  Sweet  music  filled  the 
surrounding  space,  until  at  last  there  came  a  charm- 
ing strain  that  ended  with  the  appearing  of  a  woman's 
form  and  a  face  such  as  only  a  Raphael  could 
imagine. 


322  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

For  a  minute  Madame  Guyon  looked  kindly  at 
Micky  and  Ed  and  at  the  sleeping  Sally,  when,  in 
a  sweet,  gentle  voice,  that  took  away  Fred's  fears  and 
brought  his  head  peeping  out  of  the  dry-goods  box  to 
see  and  hear  what  was  going  on,  she  said :  "  Children, 
be  not  afraid,  I  am  the  spirit  of  one  who  has  long  since 
passed  on  to  other  than  worldly  work,  but  I  have  been 
summoned  back  to  talk  to  you  of  richer  things  than 
gold  and  gain.  I  have  a  spirit  ear  and  hear  a  shadow 
fall.  I  have  a  spirit  eye  and  see  a  thought  of  love.  A 
spirit  ear  can  sense  an  oratorio  in  the  rolling  clouds. 
A  spirit  eye  can  see  a  rainbow  in  a  noble  deed.  To- 
night you  have  not,  all  in  love,  produced  an  oratorio 
in  your  rolling  speech,  nor  shown  a  personal  rainbow 
to  your  unseen  spirit  friends.  I  am  now  come  to  tell 
you  of  a  lovelier,  holier  way  to  dwell  on  earth  in  peace, 
and  I  will  talk  to  you  of  those  disputable  things  that 
you  to-night  have  in  an  unseemly  way  discussed,  and 
that  have  almost  broken  friendships  that  should  ever 
last 

"  If,  this  day,  you  were  the  only  ones  who  have  un- 
kind disputes  regarding  these  subjects  of  your  quarrels, 
it  would  be  well  for  the  world ;  but  in  unison  with  you, 
around  the  entire  earth,  are  thousands  and  thousands 
of  thousands  of  older  ones  who  are  vexed  and  angry 
on  these  self-same  themes. 

"  'Should  a  woman  vote?'  is  the  original  subject  that 
has  caused  your  quarrel.  It  is  a  question  unknown  to 
nine-tenths  of  the  population  of  your  world,  for  the 
vast  majority  of  even  the  men  themselves  that  dwell  on 
earth  are  not  even  permitted  such  a  privilege,  and  there 
are  three  hundred  million  men  who  do  not  know  what 
it  means.  It  is  only  in  a  few  lands  like  your  own,  where 
human  beings  have  been  uplifted,  that  men  can  have  a 
voice  in  their  nation's  doings. 

"  You  live  in  a  land  that,  by  comparison,  is  supremely 
free.  You  belong  to  a  nation  where  men  are  yearly 


MADAME  GUYON.  323 

progressing  in  their  kindly  treatment  of  the  weaker 
sex — weaker  in  frame,  but  not  in  gift  of  soul.  Amidst 
you  in  your  country,  on  every  hand,  you  see  the  cour- 
tesy that  men  bestov^  on  mothers  and  wives,  sisters  and 
daughters  of  your  homes,  but  could  you  travel  to  the 
far-off  Eastern  world,  your  hearts  would  melt  in  pity 
for  all  the  girl-life  born  to  earth,  for  they  are  there 
graded  with  the  household  beasts. 

"  In  the  Oriental  realm,  woman  is  degraded  from 
her  birth,  and  in  some  of  those  lands  she  has  been  made 
to  believe  she  is  without  a  soul  or  hope  of  future  life — 
for  when  she  dies  that  is  her  eternal  ending.  But  the 
men  of  those  lands  have  arranged  their  religion  beau- 
tifully for  themselves.  When  they  pass  the- gates  of 
death,  they  go  direct  to  paradise  to  live  forever,  and 
are  each  supplied  there  with  a  thousand  heavenly 
wives,  and  have  everything  for  their  future,  eternal 
happiness,  that  their  own  selfish,  sensual,  lively  imag- 
inations can  conjure  or  fancy.  Such  is  the  lowly  plane 
on  which  the  Mohammedan  and  heathen  dwell. 

"  What  there  is  about  an  Oriental  man,  or  any  other 
man,  that  it  should  ever  have  crept  into  his  head  that 
he  has  superior  or  privileged  rights  on  this  planet,  I 
do  not  kno\v,  except  that  he  is  the  strongest  and  has 
usurped  the  conceit  of  the  race.  Men  are  not  required 
to  vote,  nor  do  they  always  vote,  and  I  am  not  making 
a  plea  for  woman  suffrage  because  I  would  compel 
her  to  vote,  but  because  I  wish  her  to  have  the  right  to 
vote  if  she  so  desires,  exactly  the  same  as  is  the  right 
of  man.  All  mortals  have  souls  and  come  into  the 
world  on  equal  terms,  and  men  have  no  right  to  legis- 
late for  their  own  interests.  Woman  is  a  part  of  the 
world  and  should  have  a  rightful  say  in  its  affairs.  It 
cost  considerable  bloodshed  to  resist  kingly  despotism 
and  secure  for  men  the  right  to  vote,  and  now  that  the 
entering  wedge  has  been  forced  into  your  world,  I 
would  that  every  one  should  have  that  right,  and  all 


324  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

human  beings,  both  men  and  women,  are  sure  to  have 
it  in  the  coming  years. 

"  Because  one  child  happens  to  be  born  a  boy,  and 
another  a  girl,  there  is  no  good  reason,  as  angels  see 
it,  why  the  boy  is  to  be  the  '  grandee'  of  the  earth  and 
rule  things  for  his  own  especial  glorification,  and  lord 
it  over  his  sister.  He  certainly  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  choosing  of  his  manship,  any  more  than  his  sister 
had  of  her  womanhood.  Why  the  boy  should  rise  up 
and  assume  a  ruler's  authority,  I  do  not  know,  except- 
ing that  it  is  the  result  of  brute  force  or  superior 
strength  in  past  ages,  which  has  left  its  imprint  or 
tradition  on  '  polite'  humanity  of  the  present  day. 
Christianity  is  gradually  lifting  woman  up  to  the  self- 
made  level  of  man,  yet  if  every  good  man  would  hon- 
estly think  of  himself  in  comparison  with  his  mother 
or  wife,  he  would  be  forced  to  say  that  instead  of  form- 
ing societies  and  political  parties  to  help  woman  to  his 
level,  he  (the  man)  had  better  be  endeavoring  to  raise 
himself  up  to  the  level  of  woman. 

"  A  trip  to  the  Orient  will  open  up  to  the  American 
mind  how  in  the  past  all  womankind  has  been  degraded, 
and  in  some  nations  left  without  eternal  hope ;  but  as 
he  travels  toward  the  setting  sun,  he  will  notice  that 
westward  rises  a  new  star  of  woman's  hope,  for  your 
own  fair  America  is  in  the  van,  and  the  whole  Eastern 
world  of  female  slavishness  will  have  to  look  to  your 
freedom's  stronghold  for  that  light  which  is  destined 
to  lead  all  womanhood  to  loftier  levels.  And  so  I  hope 
the  day  will  soon  come  when  the  vast  throng  of 
American  women  who  are  wickedly  indifferent  on  the 
subject,  or  who  are  continually  talking  against  it,  will 
see  the  injury  they  are  doing  to  '  their  own'  in  far-off 
climes,  and  that  they  will  nobly  favor  that  which  has 
made  their  own  lives  so  much  brighter  in  America 
than  their  sisters  in  other  lands — including  Europe — 


MADAME   GUYON.  325 

and  that  they  will  understand  that  every  time  they 
speak  against  woman's  political,  ecclesiastical,  or  edu- 
cational uplift,  they  only  give  one  more  blow  to  some 
poor,  downtrodden  sister,  to  whom  the  unknown  name 
of  husband  is  supplanted  by  the  terrorizing  title  of  lord 
and  master ;  and  every  word  said  by  women  in  favor  of 
suffrage  is  forming  sentiment  eventually  to  revolu- 
tionize such  Oriental  degradation. 

"  To  condense  the  whole  subject :  I  will  say  that 
man  and  woman  are  both  alike  in  that  they  are  made 
up  of  body  and  soul.  The  body  is  the  material  and 
perishing  part,  while  the  soul  is  the  spiritual  and  ever- 
lasting. It  is  the  spirit  in  its  entirety  that  is  the  im- 
mortal ;  it  will  live  on  forever  without  disintegration 
or  separation,  but  the  body  after  death  does  disin- 
tegrate, and  becomes  transmuted  or  gradually  enters 
into  other  and  separate  materialities. 

"  The  flown  spirit,  however,  is  one  unseen,  everlast- 
ing evolution  of  a  thought  of  God,  returning  to  Him- 
self and  presenting  again  what  has  been  self-evolved  in 
one  human  life,  and  it  certainly  is  sad  for  God  to  see 
what  kind  of  a  record  some  individuals  bring  back  to 
their  Maker. 

"  The  original  life  or  spiritual  part  of  a  human 
being  is  the  same  in  a  man  as  in  a  woman.  The  dif- 
ference that  God  recognizes  between  a  mar.  and  a 
woman  is  the  physical,  and  this  difference  is  intended 
by  Him  simply  for  bodily  perpetuation ;  but  the  spirit- 
ual capabilities  that  are  within  a  human  being  should 
not  be  curbed  or  circumscribed  in  either  man  or 
woman ;  God  never  intended  partiality — the  existing 
partiality  is  all  man-made,  and  a  woman  who  has  no 
ambition  to  rise  is  servile  and  thwarting  her  own  des- 
tiny. Both  men  and  women  should  have  an  equal  op- 
portunity to  work  out,  or  compose  within  themselves, 
a  hymn  of  life,  that  the  angels  of  heaven  will  rejoice  in, 


326  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

when  they  see  God's  smile,  as  it  is  chanted  at  the  pass- 
ing by  of  each  individual,  in  the  long  line  of  spirits 
coming  to  Him  from  the  material  world. 

"  If  there  is  on  earth  any  kind  of  aspiration  or  any 
longing  for  higher  education,  or  any  noble  desire  for 
human  usefulness,  there  certainly  can  be  no  wish  on  the 
part  of  God  that  the  spirit  He  gives  at  birth  should  not 
have  equal  freedom  with  every  other,  whether  that 
spirit  happens  to  find  lodgment  in  one  or  the  other  of 
the  human  physical  forms.  God's  wish  is  to  have 
evolved  a  beautiful  character  or  soul-painting,  that  the 
'  artistic'  of  heaven  could  rejoice  at  seeing,  and  there  is 
no  reason  why  God's  breath  of  life  in  a  baby  girl  should 
be  hampered  in  its  individual  development,  simply  be- 
cause God's  breathing  did  not  fall  upon  a  human  being 
of  different  physique.  Consequently,  it  follows  that 
man's  statute  laws,  or  humanity's  customs,  or  society's 
demands  should  never  prevent  an  equal  chance  for 
womankind  to  give  vent,  if  the  desire  is  within  her,  to 
the  same  noble  aspirations  or  longings  that  dominate 
man. 

"  Man,  in  his  self-evolved  conceited  wisdom,  assumes 
to  say  that  woman  shall  go  just  so  far  and  no  farther. 
Who  gave  man  such  power  ?  Who  gave  him  such  a  re- 
sponsibility ?  Is  it  not  presumption  ?  Therefore,  do  not 
look  at  the  '  Woman'  question  in  its  narrow,  contracted 
form  as  referring  simply  to  her  temporalities,  do  not 
consider  the  subject  as  one  of  '  whether  she  should  vote 
or  not;'  whether  she  should  do  this  or  do  that;  but 
look  at  it  from  the  higher  viewpoint,  of  the  freedom 
which  an  everlasting  soul  should  have,  to  develop  itself 
in  any  or  every  manner  that  its  own  life's  leadings, 
which  come  from  God,  would  direct.  The  proposition 
is  entirely  orue  of  the  freedom  of  a  soul,  and  not  a 
question  of  sex,  and  any  one  who  tries  to  repress  the 
aspiration  of  a  woman's  soul  is  trifling  with  God's 
prerogative. 


MADAME   GUYON.  327 

"  The  body  is  but  the  receptacle  or  case  for  trans- 
porting a  soul  through  the  earth  life,  just  as  a  beauti- 
ful white  marble  statue  is  enclosed  in  a  shipping  case 
at  Florence,  to  be  forwarded  to  America  to  be  received 
as  a  joy  by  appreciative  eyes.  So,  God  starts  a  soul  in 
a  human  casing,  and  sends  it  over  the  stormy  ocean  of 
life  to  garner  its  own  individual  experience,  that  it  may 
reach  at  last  a  spirit's  shore,  where  it  can  be  a  joy  to 
those  whom  you  on  earth  think  of  and  talk  of  as  the 
unseen  host.  But  the  souls  in  your  human  caskets  are 
not  impenetrable  as  is  marble.  On  the  contrary,  a  soul 
absorbs  and  can  receive  whatever  its  environment 
throws  within  its  reach,  and  as  the  soul  in  a  woman  is 
in  its  origin,  the  same  as  that  in  a  man,  so  nothing  that 
is  noble  should  be  denied  to  either ;  and  so  this  thought 
of  a  growing,  absorbing  soul,  without  distinction  of 
sex,  should  be  entrancing  to  a  human  life,  for  what  is 
more  beautiful  than  the  thought  of  the  growing,  de- 
veloping, and  unrestricted  evolution  of  a  soul ! 

"  What  is  the  evolution  of  a  soul  ?  It  is  the  onward 
march  of  the  upward  progression  of  material  things. 

"  Man  is  yearly  advancing  in  knowledge  of  the 
origin  and  growth  of  worlds,  and  of  the  upbuilding  of 
human  beings  from  lower  life.  Your  Darwinian 
theory  is  replete  with  truth,  but  where  Darwin  leaves 
off  we  have  only  the  commencement  of  soul-growth  or 
soul-evolution,  which  is  the  grandest  of  all  thoughts, 
for  soul-upbuilding  was  the  prime  reason  why  our  uni- 
verse was  designed  by  God.  No  world  can  prevent  its 
own  order  of  evolution,  for  God  is  back  of  it,  His  one 
beautiful  and  highest  aim  is  to  develop  souls  within 
the  highest  form  of  animal  life;  and  when  from  the 
primal  life  germ,  human  beings  have  been  developed 
in  the  millions  of  peopled  worlds,  and  have  reached 
that  plane  where  dwells  within  them  an  inborn  desire 
to  conquer  sin,  then  holy  desire  springs  in  the  human 
breast,  and  grows  transcendent  in  the  heart  to  win  per- 


328  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

faction.  It  is  then  that  every  kindly  word  spoken 
gives  birth  to  still  kindlier,  sweeter,  happier  words; 
and  every  noble  act  becomes  the  stepping  stone  to 
nobler  and  holier  deeds. 

"This  daily  upward  growth  is  pure  soul  development. 
There  is  no  holy  thought  of  love  but  in  its  evolution 
gives  birth  to  holier  love.  There  is  no  aspiration  for 
heavenly  thought  that  does  not  bud  into  a  vision  of 
what  seems  hidden  beyond  the  veil  of  death.  We  can 
have  no  chaste  ideal  in  art  but  its  evolution  becomes 
the  stepping  stone  for  higher,  holier  types  of  beauty. 
We  cannot  have  a  love  for  the  spiritual  within  our 
life  but  it  daily  grows  and  gives  a  thirsting  for  larger 
spiritual  things.  We  cannot  read  a  book  that  tends 
to  elevate  the  soul  but  that  a  wish  is  born  within  us 
to  search  for  other  thoughts  that  may  lift  us  to  still 
higher  planes.  We  cannot  view  a  scene  sublime  but 
that  our  dreams  give  lustre  to  the  view.  And  so  from 
day  to  day,  if  we  select  the  holier  way  to  guide  our  life, 
we  encourage  the  Christward  evolution  of  our  soul, 
and  our  experience  is  naturally  in  the  upward  path  with 
Christ  and  Christly  ways. 

"  Thus  our  daily  life  becomes  our  experience,  and 
having  life's  experience,  it  buds  into  knowledge,  for 
all  knowledge  is  experience — either  of  ourselves  or  of 
others — and  if  our  experience  is  with  Christ,  it  natur- 
ally follows  that  it  will  be  knowledge  of  God.  Then 
comes  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  power  eventually 
gives  freedom,  which  freedom  is  promised  us  of  God, 
to  be  that  which  makes  us  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
death.  Then  being  free,  we  can  leave  behind  us  that 
aeon  in  which  our  world  was  evolved  from  chaos  to 
soul-life,  and  speed  into  a  region  of  eternal  compan- 
ionship with  the  author  of  the  starry  heavens. 

"  As  animal  life  in  the  long-gone  ages  developed  on 
earth  into  higher  types,  eventually  man  was  evolved 
from  it,  and  in  each  soul  of  every  nation,  kindred  and 


MADAME   GUYON.  329 

tribe,  was  a  mysterious  longing  to  worship  something 
higher,  mightier,  and  worthier  than  itself.  Thus  there 
was  born  in  man  a  hungering  and  a  thirsting  for  a  God. 
At  first  the  visible  starry  universe  became  the  deity, 
and  the  sun  was  the  god  of  men ;  and  then  later  '  fire' 
became  the  object  of  worship,  and  then  stone  and 
wooden  idols  had  their  turn,  until  at  last  Jehovah,  God, 
made  himself  known  to  men,  and  later  Christ  came 
and  taught  the  world  that  God  is  love,  and  gave  to 
earth  a  new  commandment  that  we  should  love  our 
God  with  all  our  hearts  and  our  neighbor  as  ourself. 

"  Since  that  time  men  of  different  thought  have  mul- 
tiplied creeds  and  instigated  wars  to  defend  their  own 
particular  creeds,  and  brought  woeful  trouble  to  the 
earth  as  a  result  of  their  fanaticism,  but  the  day  will 
come  when  creeds  will  all  be  blended  sweetly  into  one, 
and  Catholic  and  Protestant  will  be  no  more,  and  all 
sects  will  be  merged,  having  the  one  and  only  name, 
Christian. 

"  I  have  come  to-night,  dear  children,  amidst  your 
unkind  quarrelling  on  secular  and  religious  lines,  to 
charge  you  to  cease  such  unseemly  strife,  and  bid  you 
long  for  one  and  only  one  creed — God  is  love.  '  There's 
a  wideness  in  God's  mercy  like  the  wideness  of  the  sea,' 
and  as  God's  mercy  is  as  broad  as  the  earth,  and  to  the 
farthest  limits  beyond,  so,  children,  I  bid  you  be  broad 
and  not  narrow  in  your  religious  views.  If  you  are  a 
Catholic,  be  a  good  Catholic.  If  you  are  a  Protestant, 
be  a  good  Protestant.  Be  thankful  that  your  neighbor 
who  differs  from  yourself  has  a  faith  of  some  kind  in 
Christ.  Let  it  be  your  aim  to  help  him  keep  it  fresh 
and  unshaken  rather  than  belittle  it  in  his  own  estima- 
tion. Give  God  the  glory  and  not  a  man-made  creed, 
and  remember  that  the  evolution  of  each  of  your  indi- 
vidual souls  depends  on  the  manner  in  which  you  in- 
dividually walk  with  Christ.  Be  charitable  toward  one 
another,  and  have  charity  for  all  mankind,  for  if  you 


33O  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

have  everything  else  and  have  not  charity,  you  have 
nothing." 

When  Madame  Guyon  finished,  she  stood  for  a  mo- 
ment calm  and  undisturbed,  and  then,  after  smiling 
kindly  on  each  one  present,  said  Adieu !  and  instantly 
disappeared,  as  also  did  Blavatsky.  With  them  went 
the  wondrous  dazzling  light,  and  then  the  original  oc- 
cupants of  the  cellar  found  themselves  alone,  amazed, 
and  in  wonder,  peering  into  one  another's  pale  faces 
through  the  faint  flickering  of  the  fast-fading  candle- 
light. 

When  Sally  awakened  everything  that  had  taken 
place  was  detailed  to  her  and  all  agreed  to  keep  silence ; 
and  forever  after,  peace  and  kindliness  dwelt  in  their 
midst,  and  their  future  thought,  as  will  be  seen,  was 
bent  in  the  one  direction  of  advancing  woman's  equal- 
ity with  man,  and  encouraging  denominational  or 
kindly  Christian  fellowship  with  human  beings  of 
every  faith  who  call  on  the  name  of  God. 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

NATIONALITY. 

WHEN  Ed  arrived  at  the  cellar  on  the  night  of  May 
3d  he  found  a  dead  silence  prevailing.  Neither  Micky, 
Fred,  nor  Sally  looked  up  or  said  a  word.  He  stood 
waiting  for  fully  five  minutes  to  receive  the  usual  greet- 
ings of  the  evening,  but  not  even  so  much  as  a  whisper 
came  or  an  invitation  to  sit  down. 

He  was  about  to  go  upstairs  and  leave  for  home,  and 
had  actually  gone  up  two  steps  when  Sally,  realizing 
their  impoliteness,  called  out  in  a  faint-hearted  way  for 
him  to  come  back,  which  he  did ;  but  still  the  two  part- 
ners sat  in  silence  with  their  backs  to  one  another,  not 
doing  a  single  stitch  of  work — which  was  a  most  un- 
usual thing,  as  they  were  generally  like  two  machines 
with  springs  never  entirely  unwound.  Ed  waited 
patiently  in  the  silence  for  two  minutes  longer,  and 
then  in  a  deep  voice,  like  a  fog-horn,  that  startled  the 
firm,  he  said:  "Well,  what's  the  matter?"  Both  boys 
gave  a  frightened  jump,  looked  around  to  see  if  it  was 
really  Ed's  voice  or  that  of  some  new  ghost,  and  then 
they  sat  down  again  without  saying  a  word. 


332  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

After  waiting  a  minute,  Sally  falteringly  said  that 
Fred  and  Micky  had  been  insulting  one  another.  It 
was  all  the  explanation  she  made.  For  the  next  ten 
minutes  there  was  another  silence. 

Ed  sat  down  and  quietly  became  a  party  to  the 
silence,  which  ended  about  eight  o'clock  by  Micky  say- 
ing sharply,  "  Let's  get  to  work,"  and  immediately 
commenced  on  kites,  and  Fred  instantly  followed  suit. 

By  half  past  eight,  Ed  learned  the  cause  of  the 
trouble.  Micky  had  said  the  Dutch  were  no  good,  and 
Fred,  feeling  his  fatherland  was  insulted,  .said  the 
Irish  were  far  worse.  One  word  had  followed  an- 
other until  Sally  had  to  come  downstairs  and  threaten 
to  have  her  mother  turn  them  out  of  the  cellar  if  they 
did  not  stop. 

Ed  went  home  without  saying  a  word,  but  when  he 
arrived  the  next  night  and  was  about  to  descend  the 
cellar  steps,  he  realized  that  the  quarrel  was  being  re- 
newed. Sally  was  not  there,  and  the  partners  were 
talking  in  a  loud  and  angry  way.  Micky  was  saying 
that  the  Dutch  were  nothing  but  gassers,  braggarts, 
and  walking  beer-kegs,  and  Fred  retorted  that  the  Irish 
were  nothing  but  bluffers  and  whiskey  soaks. 

Micky  responded  that  the  Germans  were  stupid ; 
Fred  answered  that  the  Irish  were  ignoramuses,  and 
there  is  no  telling  what  dreadful  things  the  representa- 
tives of  the  two  nations  would  have  had  laid  at  each 
other's  door  if  Ed  had  not  walked  down  the  stairs  and 
stopped  the  talk  by  his  presence. 

Sally  soon  came  in,  and  when  she  learned  that  Fred 
and  Micky  had  been  quarrelling  again,  she  asked  Ed, 
with  tears  in  her  eyes,  if  he  would  please  stop  their 
fussing,  as  it  was  nothing  but  a  continued  story  every 
time  they  met,  and,  besides,  it  was  interfering  with  the 
business.  She  explained  that  the  quarrel  had  started 
by  Fred  asserting  that  the  Germans  were  the  smartest 
nation,  and  Micky  claimed  that  the  Irish  were,  because 


NATIONALITY.  333 

they  run  all  the  politics  of  the  cities  and  constituted 
most  all  the  mayors,  and  aldermen,  and  councilmen, 
and  commissioners,  and  police  force. 

Micky  did  not  give  Sally  time  enough  to  finish  her 
information,  but  started  addressing  Ed  on  the  subject, 
and  wanted  to  know  if  it  was  not  true  that  most  of  the 
policemen  of  the  country  were  Irishmen,  and  if  almost 
every  mayor  in  the  United  States  and  almost  all  the 
aldermen  and  city  councilmen  were  not  Irish;  and  if 
so,  how  could  they  be  almost  everywhere  unanimously 
elected  the  rulers  if  they  were  not  the  most  intelligent? 

When  Micky  was  through,  Ed  sat  down  and  quietly 
thought  over  the  matter  for  fifteen  minutes,  when  he 
broke  the  silence  and  said :  "  It  is  true  the  Irish  run 
almost  every  city  and  town  in  the  country,  but  it  is  not 
because  they  are  the  most  intelligent." 

"  Then  what  is  the  reason?"  demanded  Micky  in  a 
voice  like  thunder. 

"  Well,"  said  Ed,  "  I  don't  know,  unless  it  is  be- 
cause they  are  sloggers." 

If  a  cannon  had  been  suddenly  fired  off,  Sally  could 
not  have  had  a  more  surprised  or  painful  expression. 
She  had  never  heard  the  term  "  sloggers"  before,  and 
it  sounded  like  a  swear-word,  and  the  awful  thought 
that  Ed  would  swear  made  her  heart  sink.  Micky,  who 
knew  what  the  word  meant,  saw  a  grin  spread  over  the 
face  of  Fred,  which  in  its  turn  caused  Micky  to  turn 
almost  white  with  anger.  Sally  immediately  said: 
"Why,  Ed,  what  do  you  mean  by  such  language?" 
and  in  less  than  five  seconds  there  was  a  general  row 
progressing,  in  the  midst  of  which  Ed  at  last  succeeded 
in  claiming  their  attention,  and  said  that  if  the  word 
slogger  had  offended  any  one  he  most  certainly  was 
sorry  and  would  apologize ;  but  if  they  would  sit  down 
he  would  try  and  explain  what  he  meant. 

When  quiet  was  restored  Ed  said :  "  You  know,  I 
would  not  want  to  hurt  any  one's  feelings ;  but,  Micky, 


334  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

you  asked  me  the  question  and  I  gave  you  the  answer. 
A  slogger  is  a  fighter — one  who  uses  his  fists — and, 
Micky,  if  your  countrymen  from  the  Green  Isle  rule 
towns  and  cities  by  being  the  most  intelligent,  then 
their  brains — which  are  by  scientific  men  considered 
the  seat  of  intelligence — must  be  in  their  knuckles  in- 
stead of  in  their  skull.  You  certainly  cannot  claim  that 
the  Irish  gang  which  rules  this  town  is  intelligent.  You 
see,  Micky,  the  word  intelligence  means  a  good  many 
things.  For  instance,  down  on  the  second  corner  there 
is  a  big  sign  that  reads  *  Intelligence  Office,'  and  you 
may  see  ladies  going  inside  to  get  servants  to  do  house- 
work; now  you  don't  want  us  to  understand  that  you 
think  those  ladies  go  in  that  office  to  get  persons  of 
'  intelligence'  ? 

"  Who  are  the  men  who  run  this  town?  Two-thirds 
of  them  are  Irish,  but  not  a  single  one  of  them  is  a 
graduate  of  any  of  the  great  colleges;  not  five  out  of 
the  six  hundred  of  them  have  ever  been  in  our  city  high 
schools  or  any  other  high  schools,  and  most  all  of  them 
— you  can  say  without  any  hesitation — left  school  be- 
fore they  were  thirteen;  and  if  you  should  ask  any  of 
them  what  is  the  cube  of  '  3'  or  what  is  the  cube  root 
of  '  64'  none  of  them  would  remember  what  it  meant ; 
they  have  forgotten  all  about  it;  yet  they  once  studied 
it  as  we  are  now  doing  at  school.  The  reason  is  they 
have  not  followed  up  any  intellectual  pursuit.  All  they 
did  after  they  left  school  was  to  get  work  in  a  shop  or 
on  some  laboring  job,  and  then  up  to  the  time  they 
were  voters  they  spent  all  their  spare  time  on  the  street 
corners  and  in  saloons  learning  to  swear  and  drink 
whiskey,  and  about  all  their  conversation  is  about 
prize-fighters  and  the  latest  crimes.  They  do  not  read 
good  books  at  home,  or  go  to  night-schools,  or  con- 
verse on  subjects  that  give  people  intellectuality,  which 
would  help  them  to  get  on  in  the  world  in  the  manner 
of  educated  people.  The  main  object  of  their 


NATIONALITY.  335 

lives,  their  chief  object  and  aim,  is  to  hope  that  some 
kind  of  luck  will  strike  them  so  they  can  get  a  little 
money  and  start  a  saloon — that  is  their  highest  ambi- 
tion. If  you  will  take  a  census  of  the  saloon-keepers  of 
the  city,  you  will  find  that  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  them 
are  Irishmen,  and  if  you  take  a  census  of  all  the  Irish 
politicians  who  have  had  office  under  our  city  govern- 
ment, you  will  find  that  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  them 
were  at  one  time  or  still  are  saloon-keepers,  or  inter- 
ested in  some  way  in  the  sale  of  liquor;  and  a  large 
percentage  of  them  at  some  time  in  their  lives  have 
been  arrested  for  crimes.  So,  Micky,  when  it  comes  to 
your  Irish  politicians  ruling  because  they  are  the  most 
intelligent,  the  figures  are  dead  against  you.  The  real 
reason  they  are  rulers  is  because  they  are  the  sloggers 
and  bullies  of  the  ward.  From  the  time  an  Irish  baby 
boy  is  able  to  stand  on  his  feet,  the  father  will,  in  fun, 
teach  him  to  hold  up  his  fists  to  pretend  to  play  fight, 
and  by  the  time  he  is  six  years  old,  he  has  attacked 
every  decently  dressed  little  boy  of  his  size  that  has 
tried  to  pass  by  the  corner;  and  the  decently  dressed 
little  boy's  mother  has  taught  him  from  infancy  that 
it  is  wrong  to  fight,  and  the  little  fellow  early  learns  to* 
avoid  passing  by  those  corners  where  the  little  fighting 
loafers  congregate.  The  Irish  kid's  parents  think  it  is 
all  right  to  fight  and  encourage  the  youngsters  in  it, 
for  it  is  a  part  of  their  national  education  to  never  go 
to  a  county  fair  without  taking  a  shillalah  to  crack 
some  fellow's  head. 

"  Now  please  do  not  understand  me  that  I  am  run- 
ning down  all  the  Irish,  for  I  am  not.  I  read  in  a  book 
the  other  day  that  Macaulay  said  that  Irish  gentlemen 
were  the  most  perfect  gentlemen  in  the  world.  And  in 
Ireland  there  are  tens  of  thousands  of  the  loveliest 
people  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  but  they  would  not  want 
some  of  their  Irish  third-cousins  in  America,  who  are 
aldermen,  and  police  officers,  and  city  politicians,  to 


33^  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

come   back    to    Ireland    and  enter  the  inside  of  their 
houses — they  would  not  want  them  for  door-mats. 

"  And  then,  Micky,  I  do  not  want  to  cast  any  reflec- 
tion on  some  of  the  grand  Irish  heroes  who  are  in  the 
Fire  Department  and  Police  Force  of  our  city;  for  if 
some  of  the  noble  deeds  performed  by  them  could  be 
written,  it  would  compare  with  any  department  of 
valor.  You  know  there  is  a  difference  between  bravery 
and  heroism — a  brute  of  a  man  can  be  brave,  but  a 
brute  of  a  man  cannot  be  a  hero;  heroism  is  from  the 
heart,  it  is  born  of  noble  impulses. 

"  Now,  Micky,  I  don't  want  to  seem  to  be  hard  on  you 
and  in  favor  of  Fred,  but  when  you  say  that  the  Irish 
are  more  intelligent  than  the  Germans,  you  are  mis- 
taken. If  there  was  in  all  Germany  a  man  who  was 
not  an  idiot,  and  if  he  could  not  read  and  write,  and  the 
Emperor  should  hear  of  it,  he  would  have  the  man 
arrested  and  put  in  the  army  school,  or  sent  to  jail  for 
daring  to  be  a  German  and  not  know  such  things,  and 
would  make  him  stay  there  until  he  knew  something; 
but  if  you  take  the  census  of  Ireland,  you  will  be 
amazed  at  the  number  of  grown  men,  not  to  mention 
boys,  who  cannot  write  a  letter  or  read  a  newspaper. 
Some  day  in  Ireland  they  will  be  just  as  particular  as 
they  are  in  Germany  about  education,  but  they  are  not 
now,  and  there  is  no  use  in  denying  it.  In~fact,  Fred, 
it  can  be  truly  said  that  the  Dutch  know  too  much — 
that  is,  they  think  they  do. 

"  From  the  time  of  the  dawn  of  intelligence  on  our 
earth  down  to  the  present  time  there  has  been  a  desire 
on  the  part  of  mankind  to  find  out  what  is  truth,  or 
what  is  the  right  of  things,  and  the  civilized  nations 
are  all  working  in  that  direction;  that  is,  all  are  trying 
excepting  the  Dutch ;  they  are  not  trying  to  find  out 
what  is  right,  for  they  know  it  already,  or,  at  least,  they 
think  they  do. 

"  A  German  not  only  thinks  he  knows  the  truth-side 


NATIONALITY.  337 

of  everything  past  and  present,  but  he  can  tell  you 
positively  about  everything  that  is  to  take  place  until 
the  day  of  judgment,  and  if  any  person  is  rash  enough 
to  dispute  what  he  says,  then  he  gets  mad  and  talks 
loud,  and  finally  goes  off  by  himself  to  drink  five 
glasses  of  beer  to  fortify  himself  for  a  further  presenta- 
tion of  his  undeniable  statements. 

"  But,  Micky,  an  Irishman  does  not  do  that  way;  his 
manner  of  settling  arguments  is  by  using  his  knuckles, 
and  that  is  the  reason  respectable  people  do  not  like  to 
stand  on  the  corners  and  discuss  politics  with  a  saloon 
politician  from  the  Emerald  Isle,  they  prefer  to  walk 
quietly  down  to  their  place  of  business  and  let  the 
statesman  have  his  own  way  of  thinking  and  of  run- 
ning the  City  Hall  as  long  as  he  does  not  interfere  with 
their  occupation. 

"  It  seems  to  be  almost  a  part  of  an  Irishman's  nature 
to  enjoy  a  fist  fight.  With  the  Germans  it  is  not  so. 
Take,  for  example,  the  German  Sangerfest  that  was 
held  recently  down  the  river  road  at  Hunt's  Grove.  It 
lasted  for  seven  days,  and  there  were  fifty  thousand 
'  Dutchmen,'  as  you  call  them,  there — that  is,  all  men, 
not  counting  the  women.  They  drank  a  reservoir  full 
of  beer  and  had  a  grand  old  time,  but  remarkable  as  it 
may  seem,  there  was  not  a  single  arrest  or  a  staggering 
drunken  man  seen  during  the  whole  time.  Now,  on  the 
other  hand,  Micky,  suppose  there  had  been  fifty  thou- 
sand Irishmen  down  at  Hunt's  Grove  on  a  picnic  for  a 
whole  week ;  what  do  you  suppose  would  have  been  the 
result?  Why,  Micky,  they  would  have  made  away  with 
an  entire  fifteen-days'  output  of  the  great  Mill  Creek 
whiskey  distillery,  and  there  would  have  been  at  least 
twenty-five  killed,  one  thousand  wounded,  and  thirty- 
one  thousand  arrests.  There  would  not  have  been  in 
the  whole  county  prison  accommodations  for  them  all. 

"  Now  in  our  own  country  there  are  thousands  of 
Irish  families,  just  as  good  and  amiable  as  the  fami- 


338  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

lies  of  any  other  nation  in  the  world ;  among  them  are 
teachers,  ministers,  priests,  doctors,  lawyers,  mer- 
chants, mechanics,  and  others,  and  they  are  ashamed 
of  their  low-down  countrymen;  they  were  poor  when 
they  arrived  in  America,  and  they  aimed  and  are  still 
aiming  to  better  themselves  and  their  children,  and 
wish  to  associate  with  people  who  have  high  ideals  in 
life;  but  the  vast  majority  of  your  countrymen,  who 
have  a  liking  for  politics,  have  no  other  ambition  but 
to  associate  with  ward  loafers,  and  raise  sufficient 
money  to  drink  whiskey  or  buy  a  saloon  of  their  own ; 
and  it  is  awful  to  think  of  the  result  of  such  a  low,  hell- 
born  ambition  as  to  want  to  own  a  saloon,  for  in  the 
United  States  four  hundred  drunkards  go  down  to 
their  besotted  graves  every  twenty-four  hours.  It  is 
almost  enough  to  tempt  the  angels  of  heaven  to  have  a 
desire  to  push  the  rum-selling  scoundrels  over  the 
brink  into  the  deep  chasm,  amidst  the  never-ceasing 
tongues  of  flame  that  make  what  millions  of  mortals 
firmly  believe  in,  and  call  hell." 

Ed  was  about  to  proceed  when  the  voice  of  Mrs. 
Flynn  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  interrupted  the  talk. 
She  came  walking  down  the  stairs,  and  said  slowly 
and  in  purest  Irish  brogue :  "  Ed,  if  any  person  else  had 
said  such  things  about  the  Irish  I  would  have  been 
tempted  to  have  hurt  them ;  but,  '  Eddy,'  my  boy,  you 
have  told  the  truth,  and-  my  husband,  who  is  dead  and 
gone — peace  to  his  bones — was  one  of  those  same  kind 
of  fellows  and  did  not  want  to  better  himself  and 
family,  and  was  content  to  drink  whiskey.  But  now, 
Micky,  my  own  boy,  do  you  mind  that  what  Ed  says  is 
true,  and  do  you  keep  whiskey  ever  away  from  your 
mouth  till  the  last  day  of  your  life,  and  don't  you  let 
me  hear  you  fussing  with  Fred  any  more  on  the  sub- 
ject, but  go  right  on  with  your  kite-making." 

A  few  evenings  later  Micky  asked  Ed  to  explain  to 
him  how  it  was  that  the  Irish  could  get  almost  all  the 


NATIONALITY.  339 

offices;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  the  Irish  are  not  in  the  major- 
ity— they  could  be  outvoted  five  to  one — yet  the  other 
people  annually  vote  for  them ;  and  if  they  are  so  ob- 
jectionable as  stated,  why  do  they  vote  for  them?" 

Ed  promptly  answered  "  that  Micky's  question  was 
well  put  and  that  the  real  cause  was  a  great  burning 
disgrace  that  had  settled  down  on  the  American  re- 
public. All  the  mischief  was  done  at  the  primary  meet- 
ings, where  men  were  nominated  for  office.  The  re- 
spectable voters  did  not  attend  those  primaries,  and  as 
a  rule  nothing  but  low-down  saloon  politicians  in  a 
large  majority  were  there  to  run  things  and  put  in 
nomination  those  who  had  to  do  with  governing  the 
city.  The  respectable  people  were  not  fighters,  corner 
loafers,  saloon-keepers,  or  loungers;  and  if  they  ever 
chanced  to  go  to  a  primary  meeting,  they  found  no  one 
there  that  they  respected,  and  they  would  immediately 
leave  and  go  home,  and  in  this  manner  the  saloon  ele- 
ment were  left  in  charge  and  made  all  the  nominations 
for  office ;  and  this  saloon  element  was  composed  of  the 
same  little,  grown-up  fighting  kids  that  used  to  stand 
on  the  corners  and  bully  those  respectable  men  when 
they  themselves  were  little  fellows.  It  thus  comes 
about  that  in  a  community  two  classes  of  boys  grow 
into  manhood — the  one  a  curse  to  the  country,  known 
as  the  saloon  element,  and  the  other  a  respectable  class 
of  people  who  give  character  to  the  nation.  From  the 
saloon  element  comes  nine-tenths  of  all  the  criminals, 
and  from  the  other  element  come  the  noble  people  who 
help  the  world  to  grow  better.  Now,  it  is  impossible  for 
oil  and  water  to  mix,  and  the  disgrace  to  the  nation  is, 
that  the  respectable  people  do  not  go  down  to  the  pri- 
mary meetings  and  in  overwhelming  numbers  frown 
down  on  the  saloon  scoundrels  and  outvote  them  with 
such  a  majority  that  at  the  next  primary  they  will  not 
care  to  put  in  an  appearance ;  but  alas !  the  opposite  is 
always  the  case,  and  the  saloon-loafing  element  is  in 


34°  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

attendance  in  such  vast  numbers  that  the  few  respect- 
able people  who  go  have  no  voice  and  seldom  return. 
Now,  it  is  these  little  Irish  sloggers,  or  sluggers,  on  the 
corners  that  grow  into  big  sloggers;  and  instead  of 
being  in  jail,  where  they  belong,  they  attach  themselves 
to  some  little  local  boss,  who  helps  with  his  influence 
to  keep  them  from  being  arrested  for  their  misdeeds. 
In  return  for  the  favor,  they  are  always  on  hand  at  the 
primaries  and  general  elections  to  help  overawe  the 
non-fighting  citizens. 

"  These  little  local  bosses  give  their  allegiance  to 
some  district  boss,  who  in  turn  does  the  bidding  of  the 
chief  boss,  who  rules  the  community  and  grows  from 
poverty  to  affluence  in  a  hundred  questionable  ways 
that  no  one  can  prove  on  him ;  and  so  in  a  spirit  of  in- 
solence and  arrogance,  the  grand  boss  and  the  little 
bosses,  who  all  ought  to  be  in  jail,  intrench  themselves 
in  the  citadel  of  the  public  treasury,  and  grind  out  of. 
the  law-abiding  citizens  a  living  founded  on  stealings 
from  contracts ;  and  also  absurd  salaries  running  up  in 
the  thousands  of  dollars  per  year,  when,  in  fact,  if  they 
were  let  loose  on  the  community  to  earn  a  living,  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  them  could  not  honestly 
earn  $2  a  day." 

"  But,"  said  Micky,  "  you  have  not  answered  my 
question;  why  do  the  respectable  people  vote  for 
them?" 

"  It  is  this  way,"  replied  Ed.  "  These  bosses  are 
afraid  to  nominate  a  full  ticket  composed  of  only  these 
saloon-loafers,  so  they  manage  to  get  up,  in  advance  of 
the  election-day,  some  grave  discussion  in  the  news- 
papers on  some  city  question,  and  thus  get  the  good 
citizens  of  the  community  deeply  interested  or  excited 
on  the  subject.  Then  the  bosses  nominate  two  good 
citizens  to  fill  some  office,  such  as  school  commissioner 
or  something  unimportant  to  which  the  city  quarrel  or 
discussion  refers ;  then  the  bosses  fill  all  the  other  nom- 


NATIONALITY.  341 

inations  for  the  rest  of  the  offices,  that  should  be  con- 
sidered of  importance,  with  the  riff-raff  of  creation. 
Thus  the  government  of  cities  becomes  a  disgrace  to 
the  present  civilization;  and  there  is  no  remedy  for  it 
but  patriotism — patriotism  that  will  prompt  the  right- 
eous citizens  of  a  community  to  rise  en  masse  and 
sweep  this  lower  saloon  element  back  into  obscurity, 
where  it  belongs ;  and  for  your  satisfaction,  Micky,  I 
will  state  that  this  lower  saloon  element  is  not  all  Irish 
— there  are  others." 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

STRIKES. 

THERE  was  a  great  strike  going  on  in  Cincinnati. 
The  disappointed,  frenzied  men,  who  thought  they 
were  about  to  lose  their  cause,  became  a  crazy  mob 
under  the  influence  of  rascals  called  anarchists,  and 
they  started  to  take  the  city  government  into  their  own 
hands. 

It  was  an  awful  hour  in  the  history  of  the  city. 
Murder  and  conflagration  seemed  to  be  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  a  few  wicked  leaders. 

The  unemployed  men  were  full  of  whiskey  and  hate. 
Some  of  their  families  were  without  food  in  conse- 
quence of  the  men  folks  buying  beer,  whiskey,  and  to- 
bacco, and  also  from  their  prolonged  absence  from 
work.  Crowds  of  disaffectecl  men  gathered  in  the 
saloons  and  concert-halls.  The  street  corners  for  the 
time  became  a  rendezvous  for  boisterous  boys  as  well 
as  men.  It  required  but  one  word  to  kindle  the  powder 
of  discontent,  and  the  word  came;  and  there  was  a 
man  for  the  occasion,  and  he  cried  out  "  Bread !"  then 
another  repeated  the  cry;  the  women  screamed 
"  Bread !" — many  of  them  being  full  of  bread  and  not 
in  the  least  hungry — and  the  boys  yelled  out  "  Bread !" 


STRIKES.  343 

and  the  word  was  passed  along  from  corner  to  corner, 
until  it  reached  the  neighborhood  of  the  city  jail  within 
which  "  strikers"  were  confined.  Then  came  the  cry 
"  To  the  jail !"  "  To  the  jail !"  and  it  was  repeated  over 
and  over,  again  and  again,  until  with  one  impulse  thou- 
sands rushed  in  its  direction,  completely  surrounding 
it  as  well  as  the  county  court-house  on  the  same  square, 
blocking  up  the  nearby  thoroughfares ;  and  no  one  of 
them  seemed  to  know  why  they  were  there;  all  they 
could  realize  was  that  every  one  was  crying  "  To  the 
jail!  To  the  jail!"  which  was  heavily  guarded.  Then 
some  one  cried,  "  Burn  down  the  court-house!"  "  Burn 
down  the  court-house !"  and  in  a  frenzy  of  excitement 
it  was  done,  and  no  one  knew  why;  it  was  simply  a 
wanton  act  of  an  irresponsible  crowd,  led  by  crazy, 
drunken,  so-called  labor  leaders ;  and  the  great  court- 
house, that  had  cost  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars, 
with  all  its  valuable  contents,  was  destroyed.  The 
police  were  powerless  until  reinforced  by  the  National 
Guard,  and  then  the  mob  was  quelled ;  the  strikers  went 
back  to  work  no  better  off  than  before;  there  were  a 
few  more  widows  and  orphans ;  business  was  resumed ; 
history  was  recorded,  and  the  whole  affair  settled  down 
into  a  horrid  dream  that  the  citizens  could  never 
decipher,  and  it  became  a  misty  memory. 

The  kite  firm  met  the  evening  of  the  court-house 
conflagration.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  uppermost 
topic  of  conversation  was  the  mob-rule  and  its  possible 
consequences. 

Micky  asked  if  "  men  had  a  right  to  strike  and  do 
such  things."  Ed  replied  that  "  men  had  a  right  to 
strike,  but  not  to  do  such  things,  and  that  every  one  of 
the  rascally  participators  in  the  court-house  vandalism 
ought  to  be  most  severely  punished.  Every  workman," 
continued  Ed,  "  has  a  right  to  quit  work  if  he  wishes 
to,  as  this  is  a  free  country,  and  no  one  can  compel  a 
man  to  work  as  long  as  he  behaves  himself.  Every 


344  THE  KITE  TRUST. 

man  has  a  legal  right  to  quit  work,  although  he  may 
not  have  a  moral  right ;  in  the  latter  case,  he  may  have 
a  family,  consisting  of  wife  and  children,  and  probably 
an  old  mother  and  a  sick  sister  depending  on  him  for 
their  bread  and  butter,  clothes,  and  the  roof  over  their 
heads.  By  quitting  work  he  may  do  them  untold  in- 
jury. But  that  is  the  private  business  of  the  man  and 
his  family;  they  should  be  privileged  to  settle  that 
question  among  themselves.  Therefore,  you  can  put  it 
down  firmly  in  your  mind  as  a  fact  that  a  man  has  a 
right  to  strike  and  quit  work  if  he  wants  to.  But," 
continued  Ed,  "  if  a  man  quits  work,  he  has  no  right  to 
prevent  any  other  man  from  taking  his  place,  no  matter 
if  the  new  man  is  willing  to  work  for  half  price. 

"  Workmen  have  a  right  to  form  unions  and  make 
a  scale  of  prices  that  they  are  all  willing  to  work  for. 
In  fact,  every  class  of  workmen  ought  to  form  them- 
selves into  unions  and  try  and  better  themselves,  and 
they  are  not  worthy  the  name  of  men  if  they  do  not  try 
and  better  their  condition,  and  they  have  a  right  to  re- 
quest and  coax  others  to  join  their  society.  But  that 
is  the  end  of  their  privilege  in  the  matter,  for  they  have 
no  right  to  intimidate  or  say  to  another  free-born 
American  citizen,  '  You  shall  not  take  my  place,  and, 
when  I  quit  work,  if  you  attempt  to  take  my  place, 
I  will  prevent  you,  and  fight  you  or  kill  you.'  For  any 
union  or  society  to  threaten  or  intimidate  an  American 
workman  from  seeking  employment  at  any  wages  he 
pleases  to  work  for  is  a  piece  of  insolence  that  should 
be  resented  with  the  assistance  of  the  police  force, 
backed  up  by  the  National  Guard  and  Regular  Army. 

"  But  every  time  there  is  a  strike  the  unions  make 
themselves  ridiculous  by  their  unlawful  endeavors  to 
prevent  other  workmen  from  taking  their  places.  It  is 
just  as  plain  as  the  nose  on  a  man's  face  that  they  have 
no  right  to  prevent  others  from  working,  yet  every 
time  there  is  a  strike  the  leaders  adopt  the  same  old 


STRIKES.  345 

tactics,  and  fail  in  principle,  and  they  will  always  fail 
until  they  learn  that  this  is  a  free  government  and  every 
man  is  a  free  man  and  has  a  right  to  work  for  whom  he 
pleases  and  at  what  price  he  pleases. 

"  The  trouble  is  that  the  leaders  of  the  unions  and 
the  walking  delegates  get  salaries,  and  for  it  they  do 
no  work,  except  to  scheme  incessantly  to  hold  their  of- 
fices, with  the  salaries  which  they  get  while  their  dupes 
are  starving,  and  they  wrongfully  advise  the  poor, 
ignorant  workmen  to  run  the  risk  of  getting  in  jail  by 
preventing  others  from  applying  for  strikers'  places. 
If  the  leaders  would  adopt  moral  suasion  only,  they 
would  have  more  members  of  their  union. 

"  I  cannot,"  continued  Ed,  "  understand  why  every 
workman  does  not  join  a  union  unless  it  is  that  they 
cannot  afford  to  pay  their  dues.  If  I  were  a  workman. 
I  certainly  would  join  a  union,  and  use  my  best  per- 
suasive powers  to  have  every  other  workman  in  my 
trade  do  likewise.  But  certainly,  it  seems  to  me,  I 
should  have  sense  enough  to  know  that  I  could  not  in 
the  end  succeed  in  killing  off  the  great  American  Eagle, 
that  represents  freedom  to  every  citizen  to  work  when- 
ever he  chooses  and  for  ten  cents  a  day  if  he  wants  to. 

"  It  is  just  this  question  of  freedom  that  is  the  foun- 
dation of  the  whole  subject.  What  is  America  for,  if 
not  to  show  to  the  world  that  our  men  are  free,  and 
have  an  army  back  of  them  to  defend  them  in  their 
rights  ?  One  of  the  holiest  rights  a  man  has  is  to  work 
and  to  have  no  one  dare  tell  him  he  shall  not ;  why,  the 
impertinence  of  any  man  telling  another  American  citi- 
zen that  he  shall  not  go  into  a  factory  to  work  at  his 
own  price  is  enough  to  make  the  bones  of  George 
Washington  and  Thomas  Jefferson  and  a  host  of  other 
patriots  turn  over  in  their  graves. 

"  This  whole  subject  of  employment  will  adjust  it- 
self. The  government  in  the  end  will  have  to  take  the 
whole  matter  in  hand.  The  day  will  come  when  there 


346  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

will  be  no  private  hospitals,  orphan  asylums,  or  other 
charitable  institutions;  all  will  be  under  government 
ownership  and  supervision,  and  old  people  and  unfor- 
tunates will  be  cared  for,  all  of  them,  down  to  the  one 
who  considers  himself  the  humblest.  No  man  will  then 
have  to  say,  '  The  world  owes  me  a  living,'  but  in 
its  stead  it  will  be  the  motto  of  the  government,  that 
the  nation — not  the  rulers — owes  every  one  of  its  hon- 
est, willing  citizens  a  '  living,'  and  it  will  see  that  he 
has  it.  But  the  time  will  never  be  brought  about  by 
burning  down  court-houses  and  killing  innocent  people, 
or  by  seizing  and  dividing  up  other  people's  posses- 
sions. It  will  evolve  itself.  Out  of  the  trials  of  hu- 
manity experience  will  be  gained,  and  legislators  will 
be  taught  not  how  to  upbuild  a  few  individuals,  but 
how  to  benefit  each  individual  of  a  nation  from  the 
feeblest  old  man  down  to  the  little  helpless  infant  that 
lies  in  its  cradle  wondering  what  the  surrounding  fuss 
is  all  about. 

"  This  question  of  freedom  is  a  very  broad  one,  and 
is  twin-brother  to  patriotism ;  but  patriotism  in  one  age 
of  the  world  is  quite  another  thing  in  the  light  of  com- 
mon-sense in  a  succeeding  age.  As  the  commercial 
trusts  of  to-day  are  absorbing  smaller  concerns  for  the 
ultimate  benefit  of  civilization,  so  are  the  larger  nations 
annexing  the  petty  provinces  of  the  earth  to  draw  them, 
in  the  end,  nearer  together  in  a  world-wide  brother- 
hood. 

"  Just  think  of  the  benefit  that  would  have  accrued 
to  mankind,  if  one  thousand  years  ago  the  nations  of 
Europe  had  abandoned  the  narrow  thought  of  patriot- 
ism, and  willingly,  or  forcibly  by  the  arms  of  some 
Alexander  the  Great,  become  one  mighty  national 
force.  If  such  could  have  been  the  case,  then  hundreds 
of  millions  of  lives  would  never  have  been  wantonly 
sacrificed  in  war.  Billions  of  treasure  would  have  been 
turned  into  home  comforts  and  become  means  for  the 


STRIKES.  347 

upbuilding  of  mankind ;  and  the  scourge  of  war,  down 
all  these  bloody  years,  would  have  been  supplanted  by 
the  angel  of  peace. 

"  Look  at  the  colossal,  united  Germany  of  to-day  in 
comparison  with  its  petty,  bickering,  divided  sover- 
eignties of  only  a  hundred  years  ago,  all  actuated  by 
so-called  local  patriotic  thought.  It  will  even  look 
better  when  Austria  is  absorbed  in  that  mighty  empire. 

"  Look  at  Russia  sweeping  down  from  the  north  on 
the  almost  unknown  interior  tribes  of  Asia;  while 
England  is  expanding  northward,  from  the  Indian 
Ocean,  in  the  same  thought  of  conquest,  so  that  both 
nations  in  the  future  can  control  that  entire  birth-con- 
tinent of  humanity.  Russia  and  England  will  not  clash 
in  war  in  the  final  struggle  for  supreme  command,  but 
by  the  time  Asia  is  entirely  conquered  by  these  two 
giant  powers  under  Christian  control,  there  will  be  a 
Christian  plan  evolved  to  bring  England  and  Russia 
into  harmony;  and  by  that  time  Italy,  France,  Spain, 
and  Portugal  will  be  one  Latin  people;  and  the  little 
provinces  of  Africa  will  be  absorbed  in  England's  and 
Germany's  empire,  and  the  petty  thought  of  patriotism 
will  be  relegated  to  the  corner  of  the  garret  as  a  baby- 
hood toy.  The  grander  thought  of  mankind  will  be 
not  pride  in  personal  birth,  not  the  glory  of  each  little 
nation's  past,  but  all  nations  and  people  will  inquire, 
'  What  about  the  future  ?'  not  the  future  for  an  indi- 
vidual or  a  petty  nation,  but  the  future  for  all  mankind. 

"  By  the  end  of  another  century  there  will  be  only 
five  colors  on  the  map  of  the  whole  world,  represent- 
ing Russians,  English,  Germans,  Latins,  and  Ameri- 
cans." 


CHAPTER  xxxvii. 

SPECULATIONS. 

LEAP  year  came,  and  the  closing  of  the  fourth  fiscal 
year  of  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  was  arranged  to 
be  celebrated  on  Fred's  birthday,  the  2Qth  of  February. 
By  comparing  dates,  Mrs.  Flynn  and  Mrs.  Schmidt 
were  surprised  to  find  that  the  days  and  exact  hours  of 
their  children's  births  were  on  the  same  leap-year  day, 
and  as  Sally  was  the  twin  of  her  brother  Micky,  all 
three  of  the  young  people  were  thus  to  be,  in  a  few 
days,  sixteen  years  old.  The  discovery  of  the  mutual 
and  unusual  twenty-ninth-of-February  birthday  was 
quite  a  marvel  to  all,  and  it  was  determined  to  invite 
Mrs.  Webster  and  Ed  and  have  a  good  time.  But 
imagine  their  surprise  when  Mrs.  Webster  informed 
them  that  her  boy  was  also  born  on  the  same  leap-year 
day  and  at  the  same  hour. 

They  were  all  surprised  over  the  discovery,  but  the 
smile  on  Mrs.  Flynn's  face  soon  settled  down  into  an 
expression  of  anxiety  and  awe,  which  was  augmented 
as  the  day  came  to  a  close.  She  slept  very  little  that 
night;  she  imagined  all  sorts  and  kinds  of  things,  and 
the  overshadowing  thought  was  that  heaven  had  a  hand 
in  it  for  some  purpose,  and  whether  it  was  for  a  good 


SPECULATIONS.  349 

or  bad  purpose  she  could  not  determine.  This  was  the 
cause  of  her  rising  early  the  next  morning  and  starting 
half  an  hour  sooner  than  usual  to  St.  Patrick's  Church 
to  consult  Father  Powers,  who  to  her  was  the  most  im- 
portant personage  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  next  to  the 
holy  Pope. 

The  good  Father  quieted  her  fears  and  assured  her 
that  the  mutual  birthday  should  be  considered  in  the 
light  of  a  good  and  happy  omen,  and  that  it  was  a  coin- 
cidence. 

Mrs.  Flynn  did  not  know  what  "  coincidence"  meant, 
so  concluding  it  was  some  blessed  Latin  word  from  the 
Holy  Bible,  she  went  home  fully  satisfied  that  all  was 
well  and  that  the  boys'  savings-bank  account  was  in  no 
jeopardy,  and  fully  determined  that  the  birthday  party 
should  be  a  regular  royal  celebration,  and  that  even 
oranges  should  decorate  the  table. 

The  party  was  a  grand  success,  and  it  was  suggested 
to  have  one  every  year;  but  a  sadness  came  over  most 
of  the  group  when  Ed  suggested  that  they  had  forgot- 
ten that  leap  year  only  came  once  in  four  years  and 
that  that  length  of  time  must  elapse  before  they  could 
again  meet  for  such  an  occasion.  This  unfortunate 
discovery  was  turned  to  a  suggestion  of  financial  ad- 
vantage by  Micky,  who  saw  immediately  the  hand  of 
Providence  in  it,  and  reminded  them  of  the  amount  of 
money  that  would  be  thus  saved  each  year  by  not 
spending  it  on  celebrations,  as  they  might  be  tempted 
some  time  to  spend  as  much  as  $12,  and  that  that  would 
be  a  dead  waste  of  the  interest  for  one  year  on  $200. 

Fred  presented  a  statement  of  the  financial  condition 
of  the  firm,  which  showed  a  balance  in  the  savings  bank 
of  $4216.27,  and  not  a  penny  in  their  pockets. 

Early  the  next  morning  Ed  called  on  the  partners 
and  advised  them  to  invest  some  of  that  savings-bank 
money  in  real  estate,  as  the  firm  of  Lincoln,  Seward  & 
Evarts  were  going  to  foreclose  a  mortgage  that  day 


35°  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

on  a  strip  of  land  on  Baker  Street,  and  he  had  heard 
Mr.  Evarts  say  that  it  would  be  a  good  investment  for 
some  one,  as  it  would  be  very  valuable  some  day. 

Micky  wanted  to  know  something  more  about  mort- 
gages and  about  that  one  on  Baker  Street  in  particular, 
and  Ed  explained  that  a  man  named  Ian  Maclaren  had 
owned  a  small  piece  of  vacant  land  on  Baker  Street.  It 
happened  that  he  needed  some  money  five  years  before, 
and  a  banker  agreed  to  lend  him  $2000  if  he  would  give 
the  land  as  security,  which  was  done  by  signing  a 
mortgage.  Mr.  Maclaren  died  one  year  later  without 
paying  back  the  $2000,  and  as  the  banker  now  wanted 
his  money  and  his  long  unpaid  interest,  he  would  have 
to  take  legal  proceedings,  called  "  foreclosing  the  mort- 
gage"— that  is,  to  advertise  the  property  for  sale  and 
publicly  sell  it  to  the  highest  bidder.  The  principal,  in- 
terest, taxes,  and  expenses  amounted  to  $2912,  and  if 
any  person  bid  that  much  it  would  be  sold ;  if  not,  the 
property  would  be  withdrawn  from  sale  and  again  put 
up  at  auction  at  some  future  time.  If  the  property 
brought  more  than  the  amount,  then  the  excess  would 
go  to  the  relatives  of  the  dead  Mr.  Maclaren. 

Micky  and  Fred  held  a  consultation  and  agreed  to 
go  down  with  Ed  and  see  Mr.  Evarts,  which  resulted  in 
the  property  being  sold  at  auction  that  day  to  Flynn  & 
Schmidt  for  $3100;  but  as  the  partners  were  not  of 
age  Mr.  Evarts  had  himself  appointed  their  legal 
guardian  and  held  it  in  trust  for  them. 

It  was  a  fortunate  investment,  for  at  the  end  of  three 
months  the  houses  on  Third  Street,  abutting  south  on 
the  foreclosed  Baker  Street  property,  burned  down,  and 
the  owners  of  the  houses  wishing  to  rebuild,  thought 
best  to  enlarge  their  structure  and  run  it  through  to 
Baker  Street,  and  offered  Flynn  &  Schmidt  $4500  for 
their  strip,  which  was  refused ;  after  much  bargaining, 
the  kite  firm  received  $6500,  one-third  cash  down,  and 
one-third  each  in  one  and  two-year  payments. 


SPECULATIONS.  35 1 

This  success  rather  startled  the  boys ;  their  joy  knew 
no  bounds  until  it  was  rudely  blasted  by  their  receiv- 
ing from  Ed  a  bill  for  $500  for  legal  expenses. 

Ed  did  not  come  near  them  for  three  days,  when,  to 
his  surprise,  a  check  for  the  full  amount  was  promptly 
handed  over  by  Fred.  Ed  took  the  check  with  pro- 
fessional thanks,  receipted  the  bill,  and  felt  that  he  was 
now  established  as  a  lawyer  should  be,  in  sharing  with 
his  clients  their  profits,  but  rejoiced  to  himself,  as  a 
lawyer  always  does,  that  he — thank  God — is  exempt 
from  the  general  legal  rule  of  equally  sharing  with 
them  their  losses ;  and  from  that  hour  Lincoln,  Seward 
&  Evarts,  and  their  silent  partner,  "  Mr."  Webster, 
had  their  division  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt's  profits  on  sim- 
ilar profit-sharing-loss-exempting  terms. 

But  Ed  never  knew  the  anguish  that  wrung  the 
heart  of  Micky,  and  in  a  milder  form  the  heart  of  Fred, 
at  parting  with  that  $500.  It  appeared  to  Micky  like 
a  piece  of  highway  robbery.  "  To  think,"  said  Micky, 
"  that  a  great,  rich  firm  should  want  to  rob  us  two 
partners ;  they  could  afford  to  do  it  for  nothing,  and 
ought  not  to  have  charged  us  a  cent;  and  Fred  agreed 
with  Micky,  and  they  waited  patiently  for  two  days  for 
Ed  to  put  in  an  appearance  so  they  could  tell  him,  and 
have  the  bill  reduced  down  to  about  $35.  They  did  not 
sleep  for  two  nights ;  but  on  the  third  day  they  again 
talked  the  matter  over  carefully,  and  remembered  about 
Ed's  talk  on  the  subject  of  values,  and  how  the  mem- 
bers of  the  law  firm,  like  other  lawyers,  had  spent  their 
boyhood  and  college  days  and  their  whole  lives  in  try- 
ing to  earn  their  living  by  learning  to  do  legal  work 
for  others,  and  were  entitled  to  their  pay  as  much  as 
any  other  person  for  his  labor  or  services.  They  talked 
over  how  their  kite  firm  had  made,  at  Ed's  advice,  by 
the  land  speculation,  about  $3000  in  less  than  four 
months,  thus  about  doubling  their  investment,  and  by 
the  time  the  evening  of  the  third  day  came  the  kite 


352  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

firm  had  come  to  the  conclusion  to  recognize  the  fair- 
ness they  should  show  to  ability  that  was  not  their  own, 
and  as  a  consequence  the  check  was  made  out  and  ready 
for  delivery  on  Ed's  first  appearance. 

Next  morning  Ed  carried  the  check  to  the  chief 
clerk,  who  most  professionally  hesitatingly  took  it  from 
his  hand,  carefully  read  it  over  three  times,  examined 
the  signature,  satisfied  himself  that  it  was  properly 
dated,  that  the  amount  in  figures  tallied  with  the 
amount  in  writing;  also  that  it  was  made  payable  to 
Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts ;  that  all  three  of  their  names 
were  properly  spelled,  and  lastly  noted  that  the  check 
was  numbered  44;  then  he  took  off  his  glasses  and 
wiped  them  with  the  corner  of  his  handkerchief,  and 
readjusting  them,  he  re-read  the  check,  then  scratched 
his  bald  head  with  the  nail  of  the  little  finger  of  the  left 
hand,  and  suddenly  turned  around  and  from  his  lofty 
stool  gazed  down  for  one  minute  in  silence  on  Ed,  then 
in  a  solemn  and  most  professional  manner  said:  "'Mr.' 
Webster,  accept  my  congratulations,"  and  then  he  sud- 
denly jerked  around  to  his  desk,  and  commenced  writ- 
ing, which  ended  that  transaction  with  Ed ;  for  the 
memorandum  of  the  $500  immediately  became  a  part 
of  the  secret  archives  of  the  great  law  firm  of  Lincoln, 
Seward  &  Evarts,  and  one-third  of  the  amount  was 
placed  in  the  great  ledger  to  the  credit  of  Edward 
Webster,  which  sum  in  due  time  reached  the  hands  of 
his  proud,  but  frail,  little  mother. 

The  next  investment  was  in  a  different  line.  Micky 
received  a  letter  from  a  cousin  in  West  Virginia,  stat- 
ing that  oil  had  been  struck  up  near  Cookstown,  and 
that  it  was  the  place  to  make  money.  Micky  took  a 
check  for  $2000  to  invest,  started  by  steamboat  up  the 
Ohio  River,  and  bought  two  thousand  acres  of  wild 
woodland  at  $i  per  acre.  After  six  months  had  passed 
an  offer  to  lease  the  land  was  received,  which  was  con- 
summated. 


SPECULATIONS.  353 

The  oil  men  drilled  forty  wells  without  success.  At 
the  end  of  a  year  Fred  went  up  to  see  about  Micky's 
"  fool"  purchase  and  came  away  disgusted  and  dis- 
appointed, as  no  one  wanted  to  buy  the  property,  the 
locality  being  pronounced  oilless ;  but  at  the  end  of  an- 
other month  a  paying  well  was  struck,  which  gave  the 
kite  firm  an  average  of  $53  a  day  for  ten  months,  when 
the  well  run  dry,  and  no  more  drilling  was  attempted. 
It  was  a  profit  of  nearly  $15,000,  and  they  considered 
themselves  fortunate ;  but  what  was  their  surprise  un- 
expectedly to  receive  an  offer  from  other  parties  for  a 
lease  to  cut  off  the  valuable  timber.  For  this  they 
eventually  received  $18,000.  The  next  surprise  that 
came  to  them  was  an  unlooked-for  discovery  of  coal 
on  their  property,  which  during  the  next  five  years 
brought  them  in  $22,000;  at  the  end  of  which  time 
they  sold  a  town  site  to  a  new  railroad  for  $5000,  and 
the  rest  of  the  land  to  the  coal  company  for  $60,000, 
all  of  which  was  a  piece  of  good  luck,  previously  un- 
heard of  by  the  natives  of  the  West  Virginia  moun- 
tains. 

This  was  an  omen  of  good  fortune,  but  Micky  took 
it  all  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  said  it  was  only  a  little 
commencement ;  and  night  after  night  they  met  and 
worked  on  kites  as  earnestly  as  if  they  did  not  have  $50 
to  their  name,  and  Ed  talked  to  them  on  all  manner  of 
subjects  and  never  was  at  a  loss  to  answer  their  most 
puzzling  questions. 

Thus,  month  after  month,. the  kite  firm  grew  richer 
and  richer,  and  Ed  grew  wiser  and  wiser,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  kite  firm,  and  many  nights  he  left  them  per- 
plexed with  incomprehensible  propositions  on  subjects 
entirely  foreign  to  business  information. 

One  evening,  when  the  subject  of  chemistry  was  be- 
ing talked  over,  the  inquiring  disposition  of  Micky  led 
him  into  esoteric  fields,  and  the  following  questions  and 
answers  wound  up  the  evening,  and  as  Ed's  last  answer 


354  THE  KITE  TRUST. 

came,  he  solemnly  put  on  his  hat  and  coat,  and  silently 
disappeared  through  the  door  into  the  outer  darkness. 

Ed  was  talking  about  "  life"  when  Micky  was  rash 
enough  to  ask  the  question,  "  What  is  life?" 

After  a  few  minutes'  silence  the  reply  came,  "It  is 
that  which,  through  aeons,  in  its  aspiring  to  reach  per- 
fection in  physical  mankind,  has  at  last  become  next 
to  the  highest  possible  evolution  of  chemical  action." 

There  was  a  knitting  of  eyebrows  and  a  prolonged, 
uncomfortable  silence,  when  Micky  at  last  timidly  ven- 
tured to  say,  "  If  life  is  next  to  the  highest  evolution 
of  chemical  action,  then  what  is  the  highest?" 

Ed's  answer  was,  "  The  very  highest  is  an  un- 
explainable  something  called  '  spirit'  or  '  soul'  that 
emanates  from  that  most  exalted  form  of  all  life — 
'mankind.'  " 

"  Is  there  not  anything  higher  than  such  soul  or 
spirit?"  asked  Micky. 

"  Yes,  God,"  was  the  quiet  answer. 

"  Then  what  is  God  ?"  quickly  queried  Micky. 

After  a  few  minutes'  thinking  with  his  eyes  closed, 
Ed  opened  them  and  solemnly  replied :  "  God  is  chem- 
ical action.  He  is  the  Supreme  and  eternal  spirit.  He 
is  everywhere." 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

COMMERCE. 

THE  newspapers  of  Cincinnati,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  rest  of  the  country,  were  in  that  era  of  competition 
for  "  greatest  circulation,"  which  took  the  form  of  of- 
fering rewards  for  a  variety  of  objects,  such  as  voting 
for  the  most  popular  teacher  or  baseball  player;  sub- 
scriptions for  building  arches  and  monuments ;  guess- 
ing at  coming  events;  naming  in  advance  the  suc- 
cessful convention  nominee,  and  a  hundred-and-one 
kindred  subjects.  From  one  plan  to  another  the  rivalry 
progressed  until  about  everything  that  could  be 
thought  of  in  the  regular  order  had  been  tried,  and  the 
time  had  arrived  when  prizes  had  to  be  offered  by  the 
newspapers  for  a  new  suggestion. 

The  expense  to  the  publishers  at  first  was  trivial, 
but  later  followed  more  elaborate  propositions,  with 
their  additional  financial  burdens,  which  in  Cincinnati 
reached,  as  it  was  supposed,  its  height,  when  the  Even- 
ing Times  offered  a  prize  of  a  six  weeks'  visit  to  the 
seashore  for  the  best  design  for  a  bicycle  suit  for  a 
lady. 

Mr.  McLean,  of  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  would  not 
allow  himself  to  be  outdone  by  a  little  evening  paper, 


356  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

so  he  announced  a  free  trip  to  Europe  for  the  nearest 
guess  to  the  coming  vote  for  the  successful  Presidential 
candidate. 

But  Murat  Halstead,  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial, 
threw  all  the  other  "  dailies"  in  the  shade  by  proposing 
a  ten  months'  trip  around  the  world,  all  expenses  paid, 
to  the  two  pupils — boys  or  girls — of  the  public  schools 
of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Kentucky  who  would  write  the 
best  compositions  on  the  subject,  "  Aim  High."  This 
announcement  created  a  regular  craze  in  the  circles  of 
six  hundred  thousand  school  children,  even  to  the  most 
remote  cross-roads  in  the  States  mentioned,  and  the 
consequence  was  that  the  Commercial  never  before  or 
since  had  so  large  a  circulation.  Family  geographies 
became  a  maze  of  pencil  marks  in  tracing  a  hundred 
would-be  routes  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  fathers 
and  mothers  became  almost  distracted  by  the  continual 
din  of  youthful  conversation,  augmented  by  the  mul- 
titude of  questions  and  cross-questions  propounded  to 
them  on  all  conceivable  subjects  bearing  on  the  earth's 
topography. 

Such  a  wonderful  offer  had  not  escaped  the  attention 
of  the  kite  firm,  and  Ed  was  urged  to  try  for  the  prize, 
but  he  modestly  refused,  and  suggested  that  Sally  work 
for  the  reward,  to  which  she  at  last  acquiesced — not 
that  she  wanted  to  go  around  the  world,  but  because  she 
secretly  coveted  the  prize  for  the  sake  of  elevating  her- 
self still  more  in  the  opinion  of  Ed.  She  wrote  and 
corrected  the  composition  three  times  before  ventur- 
ing to  read  it  to  the  kite  firm  and  their  counsellor.  It 
was  applauded,  but  subsequently  severely  criticised 
which  resulted  in  no  feeling  of  humiliation  on  he*  ^rt, 
but  only  spurred  her  on  to  revision ;  and  after  sub- 
mitting her  paper  for  the  ninth  time  it  was  pronounced 
"  the  correct  thing"  by  Micky  and  Fred,  although  Ed 
still  had  some  objections.  On  its  tenth  reproduction 


COMMERCE.  357 

Sally  was  made  blissfully  happy  by  Ed  saying  it  was 
perfection  and  ought  to  take  the  first  prize,  both  as  to 
composition  and  penmanship.  It  was  fifteen  pages 
long,  was  beautiful  and  praiseworthy,  and  was  handed 
in  one  week  before  the  day  assigned. 

In  the  meantime  great  was  the  discussion  as  to  what 
Sally  would  do  if  she  were  awarded  the  first  or  second 
prize.  She  could  transfer  it  to  Ed,  or  Fred,  or  Micky, 
but  neither  wanted  to  travel  without  the  other  around 
the  world. 

The  three  States  above  mentioned  were  all  aglow 
with  youthful  excitement  and  expectation  when  the 
morning  arrived  for  the  publication  of  the  names  of 
the  successful  winners  of  the  two  prizes.  About  eigh- 
teen thousand  compositions  had  been  handed  in,  and  a 
month  had  been  consumed  in  the  reading  of  their  con- 
tents by  the  board  of  one  hundred  literary  judges. 

Micky  agreed  to  get  up  at  four  o'clock  that  morning 
and  go  down  to  the  Commercial  office  to  secure  an 
early  copy  of  the  paper.  When  Fred  and  Ed  arrived 
at  the  house  at  5  A.M.  they  saw  Micky  sitting  on  his 
front  fence  with  a  broad  grin  on.  his  face.  He  joyfully 
cried  out  to  them  that  Sally  had  won  the  second  prize. 
On  inquiry  as  to  who  took  the  first  prize,  they  were  per- 
plexed when  Micky  handed  them  the  newspaper,  and 
they  saw  in  bold,  one-inch  type  the  published  announce- 
ment that  the  first  prize  was  won  by  Micky  Flynn. 
Micky  then  admitted  that  on  the  day  before  the  final 
one  for  handing  in  the  essays  (when  the  kite  firm  were 
discussing  what  to  do  with  the  prize  if  Sally  should 
win  it,  and  their  great  anxiety  was  about  how  to  use  it 
because  neither  one  of  them  wanted  to  travel  without 
the  other),  he  sat  down  and  in  two  minutes  wrote 
out  the  following  composition,  which  had  won  the  first 
prize,  and  was  now  printed  in  full  in  the  morning 
paper. 


358  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

AIM  HIGH 

If  you  are  out  in  the  woods  with  a  loaded  gun,  hunt- 
ing for  squirrel,  and  want  to  kill  one  that  is  on  the  top- 
most branch  of  a  talLtree,  aim  high. 

MICKY  FLYNN. 


Great  was  the  rejoicing  in  the  kite-firm  circle.  It 
was  arranged  that  Sally  should  turn  over  her  trip-priv- 
ilege to  Fred,  and  that  both  Micky  and  he  should  make 
the  tour  of  the  world. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  all  their  expenses  were 
to  be  paid,  it  never  dawned  on  the  boys  for  a  minute 
that  they  should  be  contented  to  simply  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  the  trip,  but  immediately  their  busy, 
money-making  heads  were  trying  to  solve  the  conun- 
drum, "  How  much  money  they  could  make  out  of  it." 
Fortunately,  living  near  them  in  Bucktown,  was  an  old 
sailor  who  had  been  around  the  world  eleven  times ;  he 
solemnly  told  the  boys  that  if  they  had  money  to  in- 
vest in  anything,  to  put  it  all  into  ginseng  and  take  it 
to  China,  where  it  would  bring  $5  per  pound.  The 
kite  firm  did  not  know  what  ginseng  was;  they  had 
never  heard  of  the  root  before,  but  their  confidence  in 
Sailor  Jack  was  so  unbounded,  that  ginseng  and  noth- 
ing else  but  ginseng  was  the  thing,  and  they  concluded 
to  put  $1000  into  ginseng  and  ship  it  to  China  to  arrive 
ahead  of  them.  All  the  ginseng  to  be  obtained  in  Cin- 
cinnati, Louisville,  and  surrounding  cities  was  eight 
hundred  pounds,  costing  them  an  average  of  20  cents 
per  pound,  in  all  $160 ;  and  in  order  to  obtain  more,  they 
put  an  advertisement  in  the  Cincinnati  Commercial  to 
the  effect  that  they  wanted  five  thousand  pounds,  which 
created  great  excitement  among  the  country  boys  of 
Kentucky  and  West  Virginia.  In  one  month  the  un- 
heard-of amount  of  fifteen  thousand  pounds  was  pur- 
chased at  a  cost  of  about  $2500,  all  of  which  was  se- 


COMMERCE.  359 

cured  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  Sailor  Jack,  who  told 
the  boys  that  they  could  not  buy  too  much  ginseng  to 
take  to  China;  in  fact,  the  boys  bought  every  pound 
that  was  in  sight,  and  invested  nearly  three  times  as 
much  of  their  money  as  was  originally  intended.  It 
was  shipped  in  casks  by  railroad  to  San  Francisco  and 
from  there  by  steamer  to  Hong-Kong,  consigned  to 
Russell  &  Co.  for  account  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt.  A 
letter  of  introduction  to  Russell  &  Co.  was  given  to 
Flynn  &  Schmidt  by  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts. 

Twenty  thousand  schoolboys  were  down  at  the 
depot  on  Saturday  morning  to  see  Micky  and  Fred  de- 
part on  their  globe-trotting  trip.  The  Commercial  had 
advertised  the  hour  of  departure,  and  it  was  a  triumph- 
ant "  send-off." 

Having  previously  travelled  across  the  United  States, 
they  wasted  no  time  in  sight-seeing,  but  went  direct  to 
San  Francisco,  taking  the  steamer  there  for  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands.  It  was  their  first  introduction  to  real 
tropical  scenery.  They  were  charmed  with  Honolulu, 
and  thought  Queen  Liliuokalani  was  all  right  even  if 
she  was  a  royal  person,  for  the  boys  were  prejudiced 
against  kings  and  queens.  She  had  heard  of  the  two 
tourists  and  ordered  special  attention  shown  them. 
Mr.  Seward  had  obtained  passports  from  Washington, 
and  also  letters  of  introduction  to  all  the  consuls  and 
ministers  plenipotentiary  around  the  world,  and  the 
coming  of  the  boys  was  anticipated  in  every  land.  It 
was,  at  first,  somewhat  in  the  spirit  of  a  joke  that  the 
various  consuls  received  the  visitors,  but  the  inquis- 
itiveness  of  the  boys  regarding  trade  statistics,  their 
precocious  questions,  their  downright  earnestness,  and 
the  painstaking  and  minute  manner  in  which  Fred 
noted  down  everything  in  the  large  memorandum  book 
he  constantly  carried  under  his  arm,  all  had  a  tendency 
to  command  respect ;  and  letters  of  approval  and  ad- 
miration were  sent  forward  from  consul  to  consul, 


360  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

tending  in  the  end  to  make  the  tour  of  the  boys  a  real 
visit  of  respectful  courtesy  from  officials  to  these 
striplings,  who  proved  themselves  so  bright  and  inter- 
esting. 

Scenery  and  sight-seeing  in  its  general  acceptation 
were  of  little  importance  to  the  kite  firm ;  they  were 
bent  on  finding  out  about  business,  especially  re- 
garding the  kite  industry  of  the  various  nations,  and 
when  a  consul  was  interviewed  who  was  willing  to 
admit  that  he  had  not  posted  himself  regarding  the 
most  popular  and  national  style  of  kites,  the  boys  put 
a  private  mark  to  the  consul's  name  to  indicate  that  he 
was  an  incompetent  representative  of  America,  and 
ought  to  be  supplanted  by  some  more  observing  person. 

As  they  progressed  from  country  to  country  they 
became  almost  heartbroken  at  not  seeing  an  American 
flag  flying  on  merchant  and  war  ships.  The  British 
ensign  was  everywhere;  the  French  and  German  al- 
most everywhere;  Italian,  Spanish,  and  Russian  were 
frequent;  even  the  Portuguese  and  Turkish  could  be 
seen  now  and  then;  but  American,  never,  or  as  rarely 
as  a  needle  is  found  in  a  haystack. 

Then  the  boys  noticed  that  people-  in  those  far-off 
places  knew  very  little  of,  and  cared  less  for,  America. 
We  had  hardly  any  trade  with  them,  our  consuls  were 
not  "  big  guns,"  and  were  not  respected  in  the  foreign 
seaports.  The  American  consuls  had  insignificant 
homes ;  the  salary  was  so  small  they  could  not  make  a 
respectable  official  appearance,  and  most  of  them  lived 
as  poor  as  the  natives.  Whereas  England's  representa- 
tives generally  had  the  most  prosperous  and  palatial- 
looking  headquarters  in  the  province;  they  and  their 
families  were  highly  educated  and  refined;  they  were 
respected,  had  fine  horses  and  carriages,  gave  lavish 
entertainments,  and  impressed  the  natives  with  their 
importance.  But  especially  did  they  proclaim  that  by 
contrast  they  were  utterly  insignificant  in  riches  and 


COMMERCE.  361 

prosperity  compared  with  their  people  back  in  Eng- 
land; and,  above  all,  they  rejoiced  in  their  good  and 
beloved  and  wealthy  and  brilliant  queen,  who  ruled 
over  a  multitude  of  lands,  and  on  whose  dominion  and 
flag  the  sun  never  set.  They  pointed  with  pride  to  the 
fact  that  eight  out  of  nine  ships  in  the  harbor  were 
flying  the  British  flag.  The  boys  also  learned  that 
England  and  France  and  Germany,  especially  England, 
in  order  to  have  so  many  ships  and  steamers  floating 
their  national  flags  on  every  sea,  in  every  clime,  gave 
the  ship-owners  a  bounty  or  subsidy  of  money  amount- 
ing to  over  $30,000,000  per  year,  thus  enabling  the 
shipping  companies  to  pay  expenses,  and  have  a  profit, 
but  that  in.  the  United  States  there  was  a  ridiculous 
sentiment  against  subsidies,  and  only  a  niggardly 
$900,000  was  given  to  our  ships  in  that  manner  by 
Congress.  The  result  of  which  was  that  the  American 
merchants  had  to  pay  to  foreign  ships  the  enormous 
sum  of  $200,000,000  per  year  for  freight;  all,  or  al- 
most all,  of  which  we  could  save  for  our  own  cash 
profit  if  Congress  would  liberally  spend  twenty  millions 
per  year.  In  other  words,  if  we  spent  twenty  millions 
per  annum,  then,  as  a  nation,  we  would  be  getting  back 
two  hundred  millions,  or  "  ten  to  one." 

Then  Micky  and  Fred  went  into  the  stores  and  ba- 
zaars, and  found  that  ninety  per  cent,  of  all  the  im- 
ported goods  that  were  for  sale  were  made  in  England ; 
and  then  the  whole  vision  unfolded  itself  to  the  kite 
firm  that  England  was  smarter  in  trade  than  all  the  rest 
of  the  world  put  together,  and  the  boys  began  to  under- 
stand why  London  was  the  financial  centre  of  the 
world. 

To  these  young  tourists  Japan  was  a  dream ;  China, 
a  gigantic  mystery ;  the  Spice  Islands,  a  sweet  summer 
picnic;  Ceylon,  a  horticultural  garden;  India,  a  bewil- 
derment ;  Persia,  Arabia  and  Egypt,  a  maze  of  ancient 
history;  Constantinople,  a  fairy  tale;  Russia,  "afraid- 


362  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

to-open-your-mouth"  schoolhotise;  Italy  and  Spain,  a 
romance;  Switzerland,  a  happy  memory;  Central  Eu- 
rope, a  wet  blanket;  France,  a  frolic;  and  England,  a 
big,  busy  factory;  and  they  liked  England  best  of  all 
because  everybody  meant  business. 

Along  the  trip  they  witnessed  all  kinds  of  manu- 
facturing. On  the  long  ride  across  the  Pacific  they 
met  a  professor  of  chemistry,  who  gladly  spent  most  of 
his  time  in  satisfying  their  inquiring  minds.  They 
were  apt  pupils  and  imbibed  more  information  than 
they  ever  dreamed  existed,  and  they  also,  with  delight, 
during  the  mid-ocean  night-seasons,  learned  from  an 
educated  lady  the  romance  of  the  starry  heavens. 

They  made  long  detours  and  went  in  out-of-the-way 
localities  to  see  the  birthplace  of  all  manner  of  products. 
Fred  was  fond  of  animals,  insects,  and  fishes.  Micky's 
"  leading"  turned  in  the  direction  of  vegetation,  and  at 
Hong- Kong  he  bought  a  book  on  botany,  which  opened 
up  to  him  an  ideal  new  world;  but  if  there  was  one 
thing  that  claimed  his  attention  more  than  another  it 
was  gathering  statistics  of  the  value  of  all  buildings 
and  visible  manufactured  material  that  was  on  the  face 
of  the  earth ;  what  he  could  not  see  with  his  eye  he 
guessed  at  from  information  received.  He  was  puzzled 
to  learn  trustworthily  that  there  were  rich  men  in 
China  worth  $500,000,000  to  $1,000,000,000  apiece, 
and  after  many  calculations  and  careful  deliberations 
he  told  Fred  it  was  a  "  fish  story." 

But  as  far  as  sight-seeing  was  concerned — that  is, 
tourist  gazing  as  it  is  generally  known — the  boys  on 
this  trip  around  the  world  were  impressed  only  on  one 
occasion,  which  was  in  India,  at  Agra,  when  they  si- 
lently gazed  on  the  Taj — the  beautiful  Taj-Mahal — the 
crowning  masterpiece  of  the  whole  world  of  man's  up- 
building during  all  these  passing  centuries.  When 
they  told  Micky  that  the  beautiful  tomb  cost  $50,000,- 
ooo,  he  turned  to  Fred  and  said :  "  Well,  pard,  I'm  glad 


COMMERCE.  363 

there  has  been  saved  this  beautiful  figurehead  to  the 
wreck  of  time."  Fred  replied :  "  Micky,  your  senti- 
mentality is  worded  beyond  my  highest  ideals  of  your 
public-school  vocabulary,  but  whatever  you  mean,  I 
fall  in  with  you,  that  the  '  Taj'  turns  to  paleness  every- 
thing we  have  seen  up  to  this  hot  hour,  and  I'd  just  like 
to  swelter  around  here  twenty  minutes  longer  to  take 
the  circuit  and  see  it  once  more,  more  critically;"  but 
Micky  said :  "  No,  don't  let's  waste  any  more  minutes 
on  tombs;  we've  only  got  time  enough  left  before  the 
train  leaves  to  see  how  they  tan  tiger-skins  for  export." 

The  most  beautiful  part  of  their  trip  was  the  jour- 
ney to  the  Vale  of  Cashmere,  and  both  boys  actually 
enjoyed  the  reading  of  "  Lalla  Rookh"  by  a  sentimental 
Englishman,  who  was  travelling  in  the  same  party. 
The  kite  firm  had  never  before  heard  of  the  author  or 
the  poem,  and  when  it  was  finished,  and  they  found 
that  the  real  lover  and  gifted  hero-poet  of  the  romance 
was  Feramorz  himself,  the  king,  their  joy  knew  no 
bounds.  They  voted  it  the  best  story  they  had  ever 
heard. 

It  was  in  this  Vale  of  Cashmere  that  a  wonderful 
incident  of  the  journey  occurred.  Their  special  guide 
in  India  was  a  sad-faced  Brahmin,  who  told  the  boys 
that  he  had  become  a  Theosophist.  Neither  Micky  nor 
Fred  remembered  what  the  word  meant;  then  Abdalli 
(the  guide)  told  them  wonderful  stories  about  Mahat- 
mas,  materializations,  transmigrations,  and  other  mys- 
teries of  the  occult.  Then  Micky  told  the  old  man 
about  their  strange  and  uncanny  experience  with  the 
spirit  of  Madame  Blavatsky,  whereupon  Abdalli  was 
overcome  with  joy  and  took  them  to  his  home — a  cave 
in  the  foot-hills  of  the  Himalayas.  After  their  first 
meal  he  went  into  a  trance,  and  in  the  intense  dark- 
ness of  the  cave  a  light  evolved  at  its  centre,  in  the 
midst  of  which  a  spirit-form  materialized,  which 
proved  to  be  that  of  the  great  Napoleon. 


364  THE    KITE    TRUS1. 

The  Corsican  did  not  waste  any  time  in  prelimina- 
ries, but,  as  was  his  custom  of  old,  went  immediately  to 
his  task,  by  saying : 

"  Boys,  I  have  been  with  you  on  your  entire  journey ; 
I  have  always  been  brief  and  to  the  point,  and  will 
waste  no  time  in  courtesy.  You  have  now  on  your 
travels  come  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  birthplace  of 
the  human  race.  From  the  foot  of  these  Himalaya 
snow-clad  peaks  Abraham  started  to  find  his  home  in 
Canaan,  which  was  the  beginning  of  our  religious  civ- 
ilization. Across  the  lands  to  the  south  of  these  moun- 
tain foot-hills  have  passed  and  repassed  the  armies  and 
commerce  that  have  moulded  our  world's  written  his- 
tory. You  have  come  from  Cathay  and  the  Spice  Isl- 
ands. You  have  seen  Manila,  Borneo,  Sumatra,  Java, 
and  Ceylon.  You  are  now  in  India,  and  you  have 
learned  that  from  all  these  lands  have  come  the  spices, 
frankincense,  myrrh,  silks,  luxuries,  and  fineries  that 
have  been  sought  for  by  the  Mediterranean  and  Con- 
tinental powers  for  nearly  four  thousand  years.  The 
whole  history  of  Asia  is  overshadowed  and  intertwined 
with  names  of  kings,  emperors,  and  moguls  whose 
chief  aim  was  to  control  the  lines  of  travel  by  which 
the  caravans  of  commerce  reached  Egypt  and  Europe. 
These  Eastern  rulers  in  all  these  forty  centuries  have 
sacrificed  the  lives  of  five  hundred  million  men  to  up- 
hold power  in  order  to  levy  tribute  upon  this  caravan 
traffic.  Empires  have  risen  and  fallen ;  kingdoms  have 
sprung  into  existence  and  passed  away ;  appalling,  cruel 
tragedies  have  blotted  out  nations,  all  in  the  mad  rush 
and  scramble  to  obtain  an  enforced  revenue  from  this 
Oriental  trade,  simply  to  support  royal  extravagance. 
This  Oriental  impost  on  merchandise  was  the  '  Asia' 
part  of  an  iniquitous  trade  exaction,  but  at  the  Mediter- 
ranean 'end,'  a  similar  system  of  trade-plundering  was 
continued,  and  the  whole  history  of  Europe,  as  well  as 
of  Asia,  can  likewise  be  reviewed  and  plainly  shows 


COMMERCE.  365 

how  for  over  three  thousand  years  kings  and  emperors 
deluged  the  land  and  sea  with  the  blood  of  five  hundred 
million  more  human  beings  to  control  this  commerce 
and  exact  revenue  to  support  their  extravagant  royal 
pomp. 

"  The  history  of  the  whole  world  has  thus,  for  nearly 
four  thousand  years,  been  one  of  kingly  rivalry  to  con- 
trol commerce.  In  India  and  Asia,  as  well  as  in  Egypt 
and  Europe,  even  up  to  this  present  day,  the  greatest 
city  has  always  been  the  one  whose  emperor  or  ruler 
controlled  this  great  volume  of  traffic. 

"  In  Asia  the  caravan  routes  existed  in  the  days  of 
Joseph,  who  was  carried  by  the  Ishmaelites  down  into 
the  land  of  Egypt.  Babylon,  Nineveh,  Jerusalem, 
Alexandria,  Tyre,  and  Sidon,  each  in  their  turn  were 
the  imperial  cities  of  the  earth — each  ruled  the  world, 
or  was  master  of  the  sea.  In  Europe — at  a  later  date — 
it  was  Athens,  Rome,  and  Constantinople;  then  came 
Venice  and  Genoa ;  then  Lisbon ;  then  Amsterdam,  and 
last  of  all  London. 

"  There  were  several  of  these  caravan  routes  across 
Asia,  and  the  volume  of  commerce  all  went  by  land. 
The  sea  route  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  com- 
paratively unknown  and  surrounded  with  superstitious 
dread;  while  the  sea-passage  around  Arabia  and  the 
Red  Sea  was  fraught  with  too  much  danger  from 
storms  and  pirates,  and  when  in  Mediaeval  days  the 
Mohammedans  shut  off  all  land  communication  with 
Asia  and  western  Europe,  it  was  then  that  Columbus 
started  westward  for  a  new  route  to  the  Indies.  Boys, 
Columbus  found  it;  and  America,  with  the  modern 
means  of  quick  transportation,  is  the  new  route  to  the 
Indies.  Your  land  is  to  be  the  centre  of  the  financial 
world. 

"It  is  commerce,  with  its  golden  revenue,  that  has 
been  the  maker  and  director  of  history ;  you  two  boys 
have  ambitions  to  master  the  commerce  of  to-day  with 


366  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

its  vast  wealth.  It  shall  be  yours,  and  I  will  be  your 
constant  companion  and  guide. 

"  I  myself,  I,  Napoleon,  aimed  high  for  a  world's 
control,  and  could  have  accomplished  my  purpose  but 
for  the  intrigues  of  my  misguided  countrymen  of  the 
royal  line.  They  courted  naught  else  but  indolent 
home-luxury,  and  intrigue  with  womankind.  They 
slept  and  idly  dreamed  at  their  country's  expense.  On 
the  contrary,  I  fought  and  struggled  and  suffered  for 
my  nation's  glory.  I  sought  fame  and  position  and 
commercial  supremacy  for  my  countrymen.  I  was  de- 
throned and  my  purpose  and  aims  have  been  grasped 
by  great  England,  and  she  is  mistress  now,  where  my 
beloved  France  would  have  been  master.  Britannia  is 
deserving  of  her  victory.  The  Anglo-Saxon  civiliza- 
tion and  thought  is  now  destined  to  rule  the  world ;  its 
language  is  to  be  the  universal  tongue ;  and  America 
is  to  spread  its  ideas  of  freedom  until  the  whole  world 
shall  be  one  vast  republic. 

"  But,  boys,  you  have  noticed  the  absence  abroad  of 
your  national  flag.  It  should  remind  you  that  if  your 
country,  from  its  natural  position  and  its  rightful  his- 
torical order,  would  control  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
it  should  have  a  foothold  in  the  far  East,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  oppression,  but  to  teach  the  true  freedom 
that  your  constitution  preaches.  But  to  deal  with  these 
lands,  it  must  be  at  first  with  an  iron  hand.  England 
is  now  the  vanguard  of  Christianity  and  progress,  and 
she  deserves  well  of  the  world.  Her  imperial  policy 
is  the  greatest  factor  in  the  civilization  of  to-day ;  your 
land  should  work  hand  in  hand  with  her,  and  she  will 
in  the  end  award  America  the  palm,  and  let  her  lead,  as 
it  is  America's  destiny — for  westward  the  Star  of  Em- 
pire takes  its  way." 

Napoleon's  materialized -self  vanished  as  suddenly  as 
it  appeared,  and  Abdalli,  the  Theosophist,  awakened 
from  his  sleep. 


COMMERCE.  367 

From  India  the  boys  travelled  o'er  many  lands ;  they 
climbed  the  pyramids,  and  walked  on  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem,  and  viewed  the  Coliseum,  inside  and  out; 
they  looked  down  on  Switzerland  from  Pilatus;  saw 
London,  Paris,  and  every  prominent  city  of  Europe, 
and  had  a  glimpse  of  the  kings  and  emperors  and  rulers 
of  all  lands ;  but  all  was  trivial  compared  with  their  in- 
terest in  and  search  for  and  inspection  of  the  manu- 
factories of  the  world.  They  noted  down  statistics  of 
every  kind;  asked  a  thousand  and  one  questions, 
through  their  interpreters;  especially  informed  them- 
selves on  the  price  of  labor  and  what  boys  were  doing ; 
and  when  at  last  they  were  ready  to  sail  for  America 
they  had  "  done"  Europe  more  thoroughly  than  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  persons  out  of  a  thousand. 
It  was  with  them  incessant  labor  from  four  or  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning  till  ten  or  eleven  at  night.  The 
average  man  could  not  have  stood  such  fatigue.  But 
what  those  boys  learned  influenced  in  future  years  the 
world's  commerce. 

When  at  Hong-Kong  they  had  seen  Russell  &  Co., 
who  had  pleased  them  with  the  compliment  that  their 
shipment  of  ginseng  would  prove  one  of  the  best  ven- 
tures entrusted  to  them  during  that  year.  Russell  & 
Co.  had  shipped  the  root  to  various  parts  of  the  Chinese 
Empire,  in  order  not  to  overstock  the  market  at  any  one 
point,  and  had  already  received  partial  statements,  and 
from  their  best  calculations  they  figured  out  for  Flynn 
&  Schmidt  that  their  speculations  would  bring  them  in 
returns  of  £9000,  or  $45,000.  This  was  almost  too 
much  for  the  boys — $40,000  profit  on  an  investment  of 
$5000  was  even  more  than  they  in  their  wildest  dreams 
imagined  could  ever  happen.  They  spent  the  balance 
of  the  day  on  the  heights  in  the  park  of  Hong-Kong 
looking  down  on  the  beautiful  bay  that  was  ever 
crowded  with  the  vast  shipping  from  all  parts  of  the 
world. 


368  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

Their  principal  conversation  was  as  to  what  they 
should  do  with  their  $45,000  that  would  soon  be  to 
their  credit  with  Russell  &  Co.  After  many  things  had 
been  discussed,  Micky's  plan — at  first  objected  to 
strongly  by  Fred — was  adopted,  and  they  concluded  to 
invest  the  whole  amount  in  a  variety  of  Chinese  and 
Japanese  kites,  which  included  many  of  animal  and  bird 
shapes,  all  of  which  they  had  been  bargaining  for  at 
the  surprisingly  low  figure  of  an  average  of  $i  per 
thousand,  or  ten  for  i  cent.  They  could  make  no  kites 
'in  America  at  such  a  price;  Chinese  and  Japanese  labor 
at  5  cents  a  day  was  too  low  for  Cincinnati  competition. 
Fred  figured  it  out  that  they  would  get  450,000  kites 
for  their  money,  and  that  would  be  a  good  investment. 

The  boys  returned  to  their  hotel  intending  to  see 
Russell  &  Co.  the  next  day,  but  to  their  surprise  they 
learned  that  their  steamer  would  leave  in  an  hour  for 
Manila,  so  Micky  hastily  packed  the  trunks  while  Fred 
wrote  a  letter  to  Russell  &  Co.,  directing  them  to  invest 
all  their  money  in  kites  as  described. 

At  the  end  of  a  few  days,  when  they  reached  Manila, 
a  cablegram  was  received  from  Russell  &  Co.,  advising 
them  not  to  invest  so  much  money  in  kites,  as  it  was 
too  many  for  them  to  venture  on  at  one  time. 

Both  boys  were  conceitedly  indignant  that  Russell 
&  Co.  should  try  and  influence  their  actions  and  treat 
them  as  if  they  were  know-nothing  boys.  The  kite 
firm  felt  that  they  knew  very  well  they  could  sell  450,- 
ooo  beautiful  kites  easy  enough,  so  they  savagely  cabled 
back  to  Hong-Kong  for  Russell  &  Co.  to  invest  all  the 
money  exactly  as  stated  and  write  them  particulars  to 
London. 

When  they  reached  England,  seven  months  later, 
there  was  no  letter  from  Russell  &  Co.,  which  was  a 
disappointment,  but  as  the  steamer  the  boys  were  sail- 
ing on  for  America  was  leaving  Queenstown,  a  bundle 


COMMERCE.  369 

of  letters  was  sent  aboard,  one  of  which  was  the  longed- 
for  but  delayed  communication  from  Hong-Kong. 

Such  a  boy  scene,  with  its  consequences,  as  occurred 
at  the  reading  of  that  letter  is  seldom  witnessed  in  a 
lifetime.  In  the  space  of  one  minute  all  the  conceit, 
which  had  been  growing  fast,  was  taken  out  of  the  firm 
of  Flynn  &  Schmidt.  Fred,  at  Hong-Kong,  had  made 
a  mistake  of  two  decimal  points  in  his  kite  figuring, 
and  instead  of  now  owning  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  kites,  as  calculated,  Russell  &  Co.  stated  that 
they  had  reluctantly  obeyed  the  cablegram  and  invested 
the  entire  amount  of  sales  from  the  ginseng  as  directed. 

The  sum  total  of  returns  was  $46,283.27,  which  full 
amount  had  been  invested  as  directed  in  over  forty-six 
million  kites,  or,  to  be  more  exact,  46,283,270. 

When  they  found  they  had  46,000,000  kites, 
instead  of  450,000,  they  looked  at  one  another 
for  ten  minutes  without  saying  a  word.  Then 
Fred  figured  on  the  problem,  and  found  Russell 
&  Co.  were  right.  Then  Micky  tried  the  calculation 
with  the  same  result ;  then  Fred  said :  "  We're  ruined ; 
we  can  never  sell  them  and  we  haven't  enough  money 
left  to  pay  the  freight ;"  and  they  both  sank  down  on  a 
coil  of  rope,  and  with  their  noses  ten  inches  apart,  for 
one  hour  and  twenty  minutes  gazed  defiance  in  one  an- 
other's faces  without  once  winking  an  eye;  at  the  end 
of  this  time  both  boys,  white  as  a  sheet,  keeled  over  on 
the  deck,  seasick  for  the  first  time.  They  had  to  be 
carried  to  their  stateroom,  and  for  three  days,  opposite 
one  another,  neither  eating  nor  drinking,  they  lay  in 
quietness,  not  a  whisper  or  a  word  passing  between 
them.  On  the  fourth  day  they  both,  in  silence,  arose, 
dressed  themselves,  went  up  to  breakfast,  and  from 
there  to  the  smoking-room,  and  at  a  small  table  sat  op- 
posite one  another  for  an  hour  with  their  chins  resting 
on  their  hands  and  elbows,  silently  gazing  intently  into 


37°  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

one  another's  faces.  Not  a  single  word  had  been  ex- 
changed for  nearly  four  days.  At  last  in  a  deep, 
hollow,  helpless  voice  Fred  said :  "  Micky,  we  are 
busted." 

Micky  eyed  Fred  for  five  minutes,  and  then  in  a 
solemn  tone,  without  hardly  moving  a  muscle,  replied : 
"  Busted  ?  Not  on  your  life !  We're  millionaires ;  every 
bloomin'  one  of  those  kites  we  will  sell  for  2  cents  each 
— discount  off  to  the  trade — and  for  some  of  them  we 
will  get  as  high  as  5,  10,  and  25  cents  each." 

For  another  hour  they  sat  motionless,  gazing  at  one 
another  in  silence,  until  Fred  said :  "  What  do  you 
mean  ?" 

"Mean?"  said  Micky.  "Why,  I  mean  we  have  got  to 
hustle;  there  are  eight  million  boys  in  America,  and 
each  one  of  them,  on  an  average,  must  have  one  of  our 
kites  every  two  months  for  a  year,  an  average  of  six 
kites  to  a  boy.  We  must  get  up  a  craze  for  kites,  so 
that  girls  will  want  the  bird-shaped  kites  and  the  boys 
the  animal  shapes." 

"  But  how  ?"  said  Fred. 

Micky  eyed  Fred  for  ten  minutes,  and  then  replied : 
"  Didn't  Ed  tell  us  we  had  genius  for  business — I  for 
conducting  business  and  you  for  keeping  accounts? 
Why,  Fred,  it  was  effervescent  genius  when  you  made 
that  mistake;  it  was  not  only  genius,  but  destiny  as 
well." 

Fred  gave  Micky  a  look  of  resentment  as  much  as 
to  say,  You  are  sarcastic  and  poking  fun  at  my  mistake, 
and  doing  so  right  in  the  midst  of  my  grief. 

Micky  said:  "  No,  Fred,  I  am  in  earnest;  we  shall 
be  millionaires  before  the  end  of  another  year.  Mark 
my  word — before  the  end  of  another  year."  They  both 
arose,  went  out  on  deck,  and  walked  up  and  down  for 
three  hours  without  saying  another  word,  Fred  trying 
to  settle  in  his  mind  whether  Micky  was  crazy  or  not, 


COMMERCE.  371 

and  Micky  working  in  his  mind  the  problem  of  how  to 
get  rid  of  those  kites. 

Fred  weakened  and  had  to  go  to  bed  again,  sick ;  but 
Micky  went  on  deck  and  sat  down  and  spent  two  hours 
whittling  a  stick. 

By  dinner  time  a  fearful  storm  was  on,  and  all  the 
passengers  were  absent  from  their  tables  except  Micky 
and  a  gentleman,  who  handed  him  this  card,  Eugene 
Phillips,  United  Press  Association,  New  York.  Mr. 
Phillips  became  more  than  interested  when  Micky  told 
him  who  his  partner  and  he  were,  and  they  sat  up  until 
midnight,  Micky  telling  of  their  travels. 

Micky  was  careful  to  disclose  no  business  informa- 
tion, excepting  that  they  were  importing  several  mil- 
lion kites,  but  did  not  mention  the  exact  number  or 
particulars.  Mr.  Phillips  laughed  at  such  a  business 
venture,  and  facetiously  told  Micky  they  could  never 
sell  them  unless  they  used  the  United  Press  for  their 
agent.  Micky  in  most  intense  earnestness  asked  all 
about  the  United  Press,  and  after  an  hour's  conversa- 
tion was  so  convinced  of  its  utility  as  a  sales  agent,  that 
he  graciously  offered  Mr.  Phillips  one  hundred  of  their 
best  imported  kites  if  he  would  write  up  an  article  and 
telegraph  it  all  over  the  country.  This  magnificent 
offer  for  so  great  a  proposition  set  Mr.  Phillips  into  a 
roar  of  laughter,  and  with  that  they  parted  for  the 
night;  but  Mr.  Phillips  before  retiring  wrote  a  one- 
column  witty  article  on  the  subject  of  Micky  and  his 
kites,  which  before  the  end  of  the  voyage  had  been 
expanded  with  pencil  illustrations  to  nearly  seven 
columns,  and  the  article  a  month  later  was  forwarded 
to  and  copied  in  nearly  every  paper  in  the  United 
States.  In  three  months'  time  it  produced  such  a  kite 
fad,  that  even  men  as  well  as  boys  and  girls  were  order- 
ing kites  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt.  The  fad  did  not  expire 
for  ten  months,  during  which  time  the  entire  importa- 


372  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

tion  was  sold  and  millions  more  wanted,  which  the  kite 
firm  could  not  immediately  supply.  This  eventuated 
in  the  formation  of  the  great  Kite  Trust  in  Cincinnati, 
whither  the  boys  had  returned  from  their  round-the- 
world  trip.  They  were  welcomed  at  the  depot  of  the 
Queen  City  by  an  enthusiastic  mob  of  schoolboys,  who 
marched  in  triumph,  with  Micky  and  Fred,  to  the  of- 
fice of  the  Commercial,  where  the  editor,  Field  Mar- 
shal Halstead,  heartily  received  and  congratulated 
them  for  so  well  representing  the  American  youth  in 
so  many  parts  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

LEAP  YEAR. 

AT  the  first  meeting  of  the  kite  firm,  Micky  made 
known  to  Ed  and  Sally  the  particulars  of  their  pur- 
chase of  forty-five  million  kites.  Sally  was  angry  and 
wanted  to  know  "  if  that  was  the  kind  of  business 
genius  they  had  developed  on  their  world  tour." 

Ed  looked  at  the  tourists-  in  perfect  astonishment 
and  sat  in  silence  for  ten  minutes ;  then,  as  if  nothing 
had  happened,  calmly  said :  "  There  is  no  government 
tariff  mentioned  on  such  toys,  and  the  first  thing  we 
must  do  after  the  entire  shipment  is  safely  received  in 
Cincinnati  is  to  have  Congress  place  a  duty  of  2  cents 
each  on  kites."  He  was  so  anxious  about  .it  that  before 
leaving  that  evening  he  prepared  a  draft  of  a  new  sec- 
tion to  be  added  to  the  national  schedule,  which  was 
altered  and  passed  upon  by  Mr.  Seward  the  next  day, 
and  then  forwarded  by  evening's  mail  to  Mr.  Butter- 
worth,  one  of  the  congressmen  representing  Cincinnati 
at  Washington,  who  had  the  bill  presented,  and  it  be- 
came a  law  in  thirty  days. 

The  kite  firm  was  obliged  to  give  up  school.  Eight 
warehouses  were  rented  for  storing  the  kites,  and 
eighty-two  clerks  employed  to  attend  the  packing. 


374  THE  KITE  TRUST. 

marking,  and  shipping  of  orders  that  poured  in  from 
all  parts  of  the  United  States. 

It  was  wonderful  how,  through  Eugene  Phillips  and 
the  Press  Association,  the  kite  fad  spread  over  the 
entire  land ;  men  even  took  to  flying  them,  and  contests 
were  held  in  every  city  and  county ;  the  greatest  com- 
petition being  as  to  how  many  kites  could  be  success- 
fully floated  in  the  air  from  one  string.  The  record  at 
last  reached  a  hundred,  the  honors  going  to  Mr.  R. 
Sage,  of  New  York,  who,  with  one  hand,  kept  that 
many  in  beautiful  aerial  poise. 

The  result  of  the  kite  fad  was  that  others  in  various 
cities  went  into  the  business  on  a  large  scale,  but  none 
had  such  beautiful  kites  as  Flynn  &  Schmidt,  who  were 
now  known  over  the  whole  land. 

In  six  months'  time,  at  prices  ranging  from  2  to 
25  cents  each,  every  kite  of  the  entire  forty-five  million 
importation  was  gone,  with  a  great  demand  for  more 
of  the  same  kind ;  while  from  the  sales  the  firm  had 
cash  in  bank  of  over  $1,000,000,  and  also  a  $100,000 
still  due  them  for  kites  from  wholesale  firms. 

It  was  a  sad  evening  when  the  firm  met  in  their 
Front  Street  office  and  learned  from  their  chief  clerk 
that  there  was  not  a  single  kite  left  for  shipment,  and 
that  their  new  orders  on  hand  and  unfilled  were  for 
nearly  five  million.  It  was  also  sad  when  they  realized 
that  all  these  surplus  orders  must  go  to  rival  manufac- 
turers of  comparatively  insignificant-looking  kites ;  and 
they  grieved  about  the  tariff  of  2  cents  each,  which  was 
of  their  own  creation,  and  prevented  them  from  fur- 
ther importation. 

In  the  midst  of  their  sadness  a  stranger — an  un- 
combed, red-headed,  determined-looking  boy,  in  his 
shirt  sleeves,  and  vestless,  and  \vith  the  greasiest-look- 
ing kind  of  trousers — was  ushered  into  their  presence, 
who  announced  that  his  name  was  Sam  Forbes,  that  he 
had  invented  and  just  finished  a  machine  into  which 


LEAP  YEAR.  375 

could  be  put  pine  boards  at  one  end,  tissue-paper  in 
rolls  at  another,  a  paste  pot  and  brush  on  top,  and 
thread  on  bobbins  on  one  side.  Then,  by  starting  the 
machine,  it  would  turn  out  per  day  of  twelve  hours 
250,000  handsomely  finished  Japanese  and  Chinese 
kites  of  various  patterns  and  sizes,  and  as  beautiful 
as  any  that  had  been  imported  by  Flynn  &  Schmidt. 

When  Micky  heard  the  wonderful  statement,  he 
smothered  his  surprise  and  carelessly  asked  the 
stranger  if  the  machine  could  work  all  night  as  well  as 
by  day,  and  received  the  reply:  "Yes."  "  Then,"  said 
Micky,  "  if  that  is  so,  you  can  turn  out  double  the 
amount  stated,  or  a  total  of  half  a  million  kites  in 
twenty-four  hours;"  and  again  received  the  reply 
"  Yes." 

"  Can  we  see  the  machine?"  asked  Fred. 

"  Yes,"  came  from  the  inventor. 

In  an  hour's  time  the  machine  had  been  examined  at 
the  iron  works,  and  pronounced  "  just  the  thing"  by 
Fred  and  Micky;  then  Sam  was  invited  back  to  the 
Front  Street  office ;  Ed  was  sent  for,  and  on  his  arrival 
there  commenced  one  of  the  keenest  bargaining  con- 
tests on  record,  lasting,  without  intermission  or  supper, 
until  ten  o'clock  that  night. 

Micky  had  at  last  found  a  boy  who  was  as  close  a 
figurer  as  himself,  and  not  even  with  Fred's  and  Ed's 
help  could  he  budge  Sam  from  his  position  as  to  terms, 
nor  would  they  ever  have  agreed  had  not  Micky  acci- 
dentally found  out  that  Sam  Forbes,  like  themselves, 
was  seventeen  years  old — having  been  born  on  the 
twenty-ninth  day  of  February  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning. 

Immediately  Micky  changed  his  whole  attitude  and 
tone  of  opposition  to  one  of  extreme  concern  and 
friendliness  and,  vehemently  grasping  Sam's  hand,  said 
that  their  mutual  birthday  was  not  a  coincidence — it 
was  destiny.  He  said  that  he  felt,  to  a  most  supersti- 


376  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

tious  degree,  that  Sam  was  to  be  associated  with  them 
in  their  future  commercial  undertakings,  and  wel- 
comed him  as  sent  from  heaven.  By  midnight  it  was 
arranged  that  Ed  was  to  draw  up  the  papers  of  co- 
partnership for  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  kites,  in 
which  Micky  had  one-half  interest,  while  Fred  and 
Sam  were  to  have  one-quarter  each. 

The  capital  of  the  new  firm  was  to  be  $100,000 — all 
furnished  by  Flynn  &  Schmidt.  Micky  was  to  be  man- 
ager, Fred  the  financier,  accountant,  and  general  office 
man,  and  Sam  the  superintendent  and  manufacturer; 
and  the  machine  was  to  be  moved  the  next  day  to  the 
Front  Street  building,  placed  in  position,  and  to  com- 
mence running  on  the  second  morning,  all  of  which 
was  done. 

Two  million  kites  were  turned  out  by  the  end  of  the 
week,  and  the  new  business  started  on  its  wonderful 
career. 

Fred  and  Micky  did  not  separate  their  former  part- 
nership affairs,  but  kept  along  as  before  with  the  rest 
of  their  rising  fortune,  that  now  amounted  to  over 
$1,000,000. 

Patents  were  applied  for  for  the  kite  machine.  Five 
men  in  the  office  of  Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts  were 
kept  busy  for  two  weeks  in  arranging  details  and  draw- 
ing up  the  various  papers  suggested  by  the  newly  asso- 
ciated partners  and  their  able  young  counsellor.  The 
firm  name  was  agreed  upon  as  The  Flynn,  Schmidt  & 
Forbes  Mercantile  Association.  A  new  era  in  kite- 
making  commenced. 

For  three  years  the  kite  industry  was  waged  in 
America,  for  other  machines  were  invented  by  rival 
firms.  Competition  and  overproduction  had  cut  down 
the  profits  to  almost  nothing,  but  notwithstanding  dif- 
ficulties, the  firm  met  on  the  mutual  twentieth  birthday 
of  the  partners  and  found,  by  Fred's  report,  that  their 
$100,000  capital  had,  during  the  two  years  of  the  part- 


LEAP  YEAR.  377 

nership,  increased  to  half  a  million  dollars.  All  of 
which  the  other  two  partners  claimed  in  the  most  com- 
plimentary way  was  due  to  the  genius  of  Sam  Forbes, 
who  had  ever  kept  ahead  of  competitors  with  advanced 
styles  of  kites  and  newly  invented  machinery. 

It  happened,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  this  twentieth 
birthday  came  on  leap  year,  and  Mrs.  Flynn  invited 
Mrs.  Webster,  Mrs.  Schmidt,  and  Mrs.  Forbes  to  the 
evening  party  at  the  little  shanty. 

There  may  have  been  many  princely  entertainments 
given  on  that  night,  with  their  thousand  flashing  lights 
and  dancers,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  not  one  of  them 
found  happier  hearts  than  at  this  little  gathering  of  the 
kite  firm.  Mrs.  Forbes  suggested  that  as  the  young 
people  had  seen  only  five  anniversaries  of  their  birth- 
day, consequently  they  were  only  five  years  of  age,  and 
should  be  sent  to  bed  promptly  at  eight  o'clock. 

Mrs.  Flynn  had  never  been  able  to  shake  off  the  mys- 
teriousness  about  the  fact  that  her  two  children — 
Micky  and  Sally,  twins — and  the  other  three  boys,  Ed, 
Fred  and  Sam,  should  all  happen  to  have  been  born  on 
the  same  leap-year  day  and  all  in  the  third  hour  of  the 
early  morning;  and  that  mysterious  word  of  Father 
Powers — "  coincidence" — was  ever  ringing  in  her  ear. 
She  did  not  understand  about  leap  year  anyway,  and 
asked  Ed  to  explain  the  uncannyness  of  it,  which  he  did 
as  follows,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  Mrs.  Flynn,  as 
well  as  all  the  others  present : 

"  You  see,"  said  Ed,  "  that  the  earth  goes  round  the 
sun  once  a  year,  just  like  a  horse  runs  round  a  mile 
race-track,  and  comes  back  to  the  place  he  started  from. 

"  The  horse  tries  to  go  his  mile  in  a  minute ;  but,  un- 
fortunately for  his  good  name,  a  few  seconds  before  he 
gets  around  the  minute  is  up,  and  when  he  passes  the 
exact  mile-line  it  is  two  seconds  over  a  minute. 

"  It  is  just  the  same  way  with  the  earth,  whose  race- 
track is  nearly  four  hundred  million  miles  around  the 


37§  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

sun,  but  the  earth  is  unlike  the  horse,  as  the  earth  never 
stops — not  even  for  the  hundredth  part  of  a  second,  but 
goes  on  and  on  and  on  forever.  The  earth  tries  to  run 
the  exact  circuit  in  365  days,  but  it  is  not  quite  speedy 
enough,  for  it  takes  six  hours  longer,  or  365  days  and  6 
hours  before  it  comes  exactly  around  to  the  starting 
line.  This  six  hours  is  a  quarter  of  a  day,  and  so  in 
four  annual  racings  around  the  sun  the  earth  falls  be- 
hind in  its  onward  rushing  a  distance  equal  to  four 
times  six  hours,  or  a  total  of  twenty-four  hours,  which 
is  one  day,  and  this  one  day  spent  in  reaching  the  exact 
original  starting  line  is  added  at  the  end  of  February, 
giving  that  month  twenty-nine  days  every  fourth  year 
instead  of  twenty-eight  as  in  the  other  three. 

"  I  do  not  know  why  they  added  the  day  onto  the  end 
of  February,  because  I  think  it  would  have  been  much 
better  to  have  crowded  it  in  at  the  end  of  our  year  and 
called  it  December  32d.  But  probably  that  would  not 
have  suited  Julius  Caesar,  for  the  month  of  July  was 
named  after  him,  and  he  was  so  ambitious  that  he 
would  not  have  permitted  any  other  month  to  have 
more  days  in  it  than  there  were  in  July — his  namesake. 
In  fact,  the  month  now  known  as  August  once  had 
only  thirty  days  in  it,  but  when  Augustus  Caesar  came 
along,  he  had  the  name  changed  and  the  month  called 
after  him,  and  in  a  spirit  of  jealousy  he  took  one  day 
out  of  February  and  added  it  to  August  in  order  that 
his  namesake  (August)  would  have  as  many  days  as 
Julius's  had  in  his  month,  and  ever  since  August  has 
had  thirty-one  days.  So  this  adding  one  day  to  Feb- 
ruary every  fourth  year  to  make  up  the  lost  time  is  an 
old  custom  established  by  Julius  Caesar  before  Christ 
was  born. 

"  In  our  old  racing  days  it  did  not  count  for  much 
if  a  horse  was  somewhat  slow ;  a  few  seconds  or  so 
made  very  little  difference,  but  later,  when  speed  became 


LEAP  YEAR.  379 

inore  competitive,  then  fine  watches  were  invented  that 
would  record  the  tenth  of  a  second,  and  horse-racing 
became  so  close  that  an  eighth  of  a  second  made  a  new 
record. 

"  It  was  just  the  same  with  the  sun.  People  in  the 
old  days  were  perfectly  satisfied  with  talking  about  the 
sun  being  six  hours  slo\v  in  reaching  the  home  line,  and 
did  not  toother  their  heads  about  a  few  minutes  or  so, 
but  in  later  days  some  scientific  people  became  very 
particular,  and  calculated  that  it  was  not  exactly  six 
hours  per  year  that  was  lost,  but  five  hours,  forty-eight 
minutes  and  forty-nine  and  one-half  seconds  per  year, 
or  about  twelve  minutes  a  year  too  much,  which  they 
figured  out  would  amount  to  twelve  hundred  minutes, 
or  twenty  hours — nearly  a  day,  in  a  century,  so  they 
had  to  get  that  surplus  out  of  the  way  and  adopted  -the 
plan  not  to  have  a  leap  year  in  its  regular  turn  when 
it  was  due  on  the  even  hundred  years,  such  as  the  years 
1 700,  1800,  1900,  etc. 

"  Then  later  some  very  particular  astronomers  cal- 
culated that  this  last-mentioned  whole  clay  was  too 
much  to  have  had  left  out  of  the  century,  and  that  the 
overdraft  amounted  to  eleven  minutes  and  ten  seconds 
per  year,  or  to  a  total  of  about  one  day  every  four  hun- 
dred years,  so  they  agreed  to  satisfy  the  fastidious 
tastes  of  the  objectors,  and  '  bunched'  those  many  min- 
utes and  seconds  together  in  one  aggregate  and  agreed 
to  let  there  be  a  February  29th  in  those  years  when  the 
date  could  be  divided  by  four  hundred ;  so  the  years 
2000,  2400,  2800,  etc.,  were  arranged  for  in  advance  to 
be  leap  years. 

"  Still  later  some  hair-splitting  calculators  figured 
out  that  this  last  four-hundred-year  calculation  was 
still  out  of  the  way,  amounting  to  twenty-two  and  one- 
third  seconds  per  year,  which  accumulation  would 
equal  a  whole  day  in  four  thousand  years,  and  that  the 


380  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

leap  year  should  be  omitted  every  four  thousand  years. 
So  the  people  said  all  right,  so  let  it  be ;  and  I  suppose 
some  fellow  will  come  along  by  and  by  and  inform  the 
world  that  the  leap  year  should  be  put  back  again  on  the 
return  of  every  forty  thousand  or  four  hundred  thou- 
sand years;  and  if  in  that  far-off  time  any  boy  or  girl 
is  unlucky  enough  to  be  born  on  that  leap-year  day  he 
will  never  enjoy  having  any  anniversary  birth  celebra- 
tions. So  let  the  kite  firm  be  thankful  that  they  can 
meet  again  on  these  festal  occasions  as  often  as  they 
do.  We  will  not  think  of  those  four  hundred  thousand 
years,  as  we  shall  all  be  dead  and  gone  and  forgotten 
by  that  time."  But  Micky  replied:  "  We  may  all  be 
dead  by  that  time,  but  we  shall  not  be  forgotten ;  let  us 
do  something  in  our  lifetime  for  the  world  for  which 
we  will  be  held  in  remembrance." 

From  one  subject  to  another  Ed  entertained  them 
all  with  his  wisdom,  and  the  evening  wound  up  by  his 
answering  Sally's  question  as  to  what  was  the  differ- 
ence between  "  Character"  and  "  Reputation,"  as  all 
three  of  the  boys  insisted  it  meant  one  and  the  same 
thing. 

"  Character,"  said  Ed,  "  is  the  man  himself  as  he 
stands  before  God,  or  as  he  appears  to  his  own  inner 
self.  A  man's  character  is  his  true  personality.  No 
one  can  give  a  man  a  character  or  take  it  from  him  ex- 
cepting God,  and  himself,  and,  of  course,  God  can  be 
depended  on  not  to  take  it  away.  The  man  himself 
by  his  own  thought  or  action  can  take  it  away. 

"  Reputation,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a  far  different 
meaning — it  is  the  repute  in  which  a  man  is  held  by 
his  fellow-men.  A  man's  reputation  may  be  good  in 
one  section  of  the  country  and  bad  in  another.  One 
friend  or  acquaintance  may  speak  well  of  him,  another 
unkindly,  and  thus  a  man's  reputation  can  become  a 
football  in  the  hands  of  the  community,  and  all  his  acts. 


LEAP  YEAR.  '  38 1 

judged  for  good  or  bad,  are  at  the  mercy  and  whim  of 
others.  But  '  character'  stands  free  from  public 
criticism ;  it  is  between*  God  and  the  man  alone.  Emer- 
son says,  '  Character  is  what  a  man  is  in  the  dark.'  " 

This  explanation  of  Ed's  made  a  deep  impression  on 
his  hearers  and  became  imbedded  in  the  lives  of  the 
kite  firm  as  one  of  their  foundation  memories. 


CHAPTER   XL. 

CAGLIOSTRO. 

IT  was  a  night  long  to  be  remembered  in  Cincinnati. 
Never  before  had  such  a  storm  swept  down  on  the 
Queen  City.  The  mountainous  banks  of  black,  rolling- 
clouds  covered  the  great  dome  from  horizon  to  horizon, 
and  the  calm  that  usually  precedes  the  tempest  had 
settled  on  the  inhabitants  with  a  deep,  solemn,  stifling, 
choking  sensation.  Anxious  eyes  and  flattened  noses 
pressed  close  to  the  window  panes,  peering  into  the 
darkness,  wondering  what  the  oppression  could  mean. 

It  had  been  unusually  warm  for  an  October  day,  and 
as  the  nine  o'clock  bell  solemnly  pealed  off  the  hours 
one  by  one,  pedestrians  seemed  suddenly  seized  with  a 
strange  presentiment  and  unconsciously  hastened 
homeward,  while  the  boys  and  girls  who  for  a  whole 
summer. had  been  loth  to  early  leave  their  playmates, 
now  gravely  gave  up  their  after-dusk  games,  and 
silently  entered  their  homes  and  sought  companionship 
with  the  older  ones  of  the  family,  while  the  smaller 
children,  without  knowing  why,  nestled  their  heads  in 
the  mother's  lap,  or  sat  silently  at  her  feet  or  on  the 
floor  within  the  charmed  circle  of  the  stronger  ones, 
where  thev  fancied  themselves  free  from  all  harm. 


CAGLIOSTRO.  383 

Hotter  and  more  stifling  grew  the  atmosphere,  and 
breathing  became  so  difficult  and  labored  that  each 
could  hear  the  other  as  they  gasped  or  gave  long- 
drawn,  deep  efforts  of  the  lungs,  that  were  hungering 
for  more  wholesome  air.  As  the  heat  increased  the 
perspiration  rolled  from  foreheads,  and  handkerchiefs 
never  seemed  to  have  been  so  useful.  Here  and  there 
a  father  thoughtlessly  unbuttoned  a  collar,  or  a  brother 
doffed  his  coat  to  become  more  comfortable  within 
their  own  homes. 

As  the  moments  flew  the  heat  increased,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  it  were  being  pressed  upward  or  was  ooz- 
ing out  from  the  surrounding  earth  from  some  pent-up 
underground  reservoir  of  the  sun's  fiercest  summer's 
rays,  or  from  some  gigantic  subterranean  fire  still  un- 
quenchecl. 

There  came  a  moment  when  the  silence  was  so  in- 
tense that  it  could  almost  be  felt.  Fear  seized  upon 
the  community,  and  from  it  hardly  a  home  seemed 
exempt.  The  fears  grew  into  terror,  and  the  terror 
into  delirium ;  while  the  blanched  faces  of  the  older 
ones  told  the  story  to  the  children  that  something 
dreadful  and  unknown  was  impending.  It  was  thus 
that  a  whole  city,  in  unison,  was  in  a  spasm  of  ten- 
sioned,  frenzied  anticipation ;  when  suddenly  there  came 
a  rumbling,  crashing,  crunching,  quaking  of  the  earth, 
and  quick  as  a  flash  a  sheet  of  blinding  flame  enveloped 
the  whole  community  in  the  depths  of  one  seeming  lake 
of  fire.  'Whole  families,  screaming,  rushed  into  one  an- 
other's arms  for  protection,  and  while  thus  embracing 
there  came  an  awful  peal  of  thunder  whose  sound 
waves  must  have  reached  the  distant  stars.  It  w^as  an 
awful  crash ;  a  splitting,  ricochetting  clap  that  sent 
hearts  to  throats  and  stifled  the  terrified  screams  that 
were  about  uprising ;  the  lights  of  the  whole  city  went 
instantly  out  and  all  was  in  darkness;  and  the  falling 
of  walls,  chimneys  crashing  through  roofs,  and  broken 


384  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

church  spires;  screams 'of  injured  and  ringing  of  fire- 
bells  made  a  confused  commingling  of  terrorized  souls 
never  before  known  to  the  oldest  inhabitant. 

For  an  hour  the  flashing,  zigzag  lightning  played 
furiously  at  intervals  of  only  seeming  seconds,  and  the 
continuous  thundering  reverberations  unnerved  the 
strongest  men.  The  rain  came  down  in  thick  sheets, 
and  hail  in  a  ceaseless  clatter  beat  mercilessly  against 
the  window  panes  like  arrows  from  a  Xerxes'  count- 
less host. 

Sally,  Micky,  Fred,  and  Ed  were  in  the  cellar  dur- 
ing the  gathering  of  the  storm.  But  just  before  the 
crash  came,  while  the  heat  was  so  intense,  Sally  sud- 
denly fell  backward  in  a  swoon.  The  quartette  were 
already  alarmed  at  the  general  stifling  oppressiveness, 
and  were  about  hastily  to  go  upstairs,  when  Sally's 
trance  threw  them  into  additional  fright,  for  they 
tremblingly  remembered  her  last  seizure  under  the  spell 
of  the  phantom  Blavatsky;  and,  in  their  fear,  they  no 
doubt,  all  in  a  moment  more,  in  panicky  terror,  would 
have  reached  the  kitchen  floor  above  if  they  had  not 
been  intercepted  by  the  surrounding  lake  of  electric 
fire  and  that  unearthly  thunder's  crash  that  throughout 
the  city  hurled  a  hundred  thousand  souls  upon  their 
faces.  The  shock  or  trembling  of  the  earth  and  the 
general  fright  threw  the  kite  firm  prostrate  on  the 
ground  in  one  confused  heap,  with  arms  around  each 
other  desperately  entwined.  Self-preservation  was  up- 
permost in  their  minds,  and  with  one  impulse  they 
arose  to  make  a  general  rush  upstairs,  when,  horror 
of  horrors !  the  ghost  of  Blavatsky  "again  stood  before 
them,  and  by  her  side  at  the  foot  of  the  steps,  emerging 
from  the  flames,  was  apparently  a  ball  of  blue,  blazing- 
lightning  that  turned  into  a  red-dressed,  wizard-look- 
ing, devil-appearing  personage,  whose  piercing  eyes 
sent  a  terror  to  the  utmost  depths  of  the  entire  kite 
firm.  Each  one  of  the  three  boys  silently  closed  his 


CAGLIOSTRO.  385 

eyes,  saying  inwardly  to  himself.  "  Now  we  are 
goners,"  and  slowly  and  involuntarily  they  retreated  to 
the  far  corner  and  huddled  together  in  one  bunch, 
crouching  and  trembling  with  arms  around  one  another 
for  mutual  help. 

Dazzling  sparks,  as  from  fireworks,  sizzed  from  each 
finger  of  the  two  outstretched  hands  of  the  awful 
wizard  stranger  who  blocked  the  stairway  to  freedom 
above;  blue  flames  belched  from  his  mouth  and  nos- 
trils, and  red  fire  streamed  from  his  elbows,  shoulders, 
knees  and  feet,  while  for  ten  feet  all  around  him  were 
gyrating  circles  of  yellow,  snapping,  crackling  flames, 
all  of  which  illuminated  the  cellar  with  a  brightness 
beyond  ten  thousand  candle-power;  and  all  the  while 
Sally  peacefully  slept. 

The  uncanny  light  coming  from  the  stranger  dimmed 
and  threw  into  the  shade  the  seeress  Blavatsky,  and  for 
ten  minutes,  amidst  the  awful  crashing  of  the  outside 
thunder  storm,  he  silently  eyed  the  breathless,  wink- 
less  boys ;  then  suddenly  he  gave  a  "  Mephisto"  Ha ! 
Ha !  Ha !  and  sang  in  deepest  basso : 

"  I  am  the  King,  the  king  of  the  crooks, 
I  am  the  chief  of  the  confidence  men. 
A  million  a  day  I  easily  make 
By  simply  a  little  scratch  of  my  pen. 
Others  may  work,  others  may  toil, 
But  I  drink  wine  of  the  oldest  date, 
Then  I  shrewdly  scheme  and  figure  and  plan 
And   '  scoop'   others'  savings  sooner  or  late. 

"  Ha !  Ha !  Ha !  my  boys !  Ha !  Ha !  Ha !  Ha !"  laughed 
the  wizard  in  a  deep,  sepulchral  voice ;  "  I  heard  you  be- 
fore the  storm  set  in  to-night,  talking  and  arguing  as 
to  how  it  is  that  some  men  without  working  can  make  a 
hundred  million  in  a  lifetime.  Sally  called  it  making 
'  something  out  of  nothing;'  Ed,  technically,  styled  it 


386  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

'  creating  fictitious  values ;'  Fred  said  '  it  was  getting 
rich  on  wind,'  and  Micky  explained  it  as  '  cheeking  it 
for  a  fortune.'  Ha,  ha,  ha,  boys,  I  have  come  to-night 
to  enlighten  you  and  to  give  you,  as  it  were,  a  few- 
pointers.  I  am  Cagliostro.  Ha,  ha,  ha !" 

As  the  name  Cagliostro  was  mentioned  there  came 
a  sizzing,  spark-flying  illumination,  filling  the  whole 
cellar  as  if  five  thousand  Roman  candles  were  going 
off  at  one  time.  The  boys'  hearts  went  up  in  their 
throats,  and  the  stranger,  seeing  their  fright,  again 
laughed  deeply  and  slowly  his  dreadful,  scaring  Ha, 
ha,  ha,  ha!  and  then  said:  "  Do  not  be  afraid;  I  am 
Caglisotro,  the  prince  of  bunco  steerers  of  a  hundred 
years  ago;  kings  and  queens  were  my  prey;  I  am  the 
star-wizard  of  the  eighteenth  century.  To  make  a 
living,  I  made  something  out  of  something  whenever 
I  could,  and  the  balance  of  the  time  I  spent  in  making 
something  out  of  nothing,  and  the  latter  occupation 
consumed  about  ninety  per  cent,  of  my  wakeful  hours. 
I  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  more  times  than  I  can 
recount.  It  made  no  difference  whether  I  was  selling 
brass  gold  bricks  or  intriguing  for  a  diamond  neck- 
lace, all  was  illegal,  and  I  had  to  suffer,  for  there  was 
no  way  in  those  days  to  obtain  others'  property  thiev- 
ingly  except  by  stealing  direct.  My  nature  was  like 
that  of  some  people  who  live  to-day ;  if  there  were  two 
ways  to  obtain  money  or  property — the  one  right  and 
the  other  wrong — I  preferred  the  wrong  way  for  the 
sake  of  the  excitement  and  joy  of  it,  and  also  because 
I  knew  that  -way  so  much  better.  In  those  days  there 
was  no  right  way  to  do  a  wrong  thing.  But,  boys,  you 
live  in  a  different  era,  for  to-day  there  are  a  hundred 
legal  ways  to  do  wrong  things,  and  it  is  the  crafty 
people  who  live  to-day,  and  are  posted,  and  expert  in 
such  sharp,  smart  legal  knowledge,  and  have  the  nerve, 
who  are  the  lucky  ones,  and  the  majority  of  them  that 
make  the  millions.  They  do  not  work,  they  toil  not, 


CAGLIOSTRO.  387 

neither  do  they  spin;  they  just  simply  scheme  for  the 
earnings  of  other  people  who  do  work  and  save.  Some 
of  them  are  known  as  bankers  of  high  degree.  I  suf- 
fered for  my  large  share  of  such  iniquity  in  my  day. 
Men  now  repose  in  luxury  for  it  in  this,  their  new  day, 
because  it  is  lawful. 

"  But,  alas !  I  did  not  live  in  this  era  of  legalized 
plundering.  I  was  born,  with  my  abilities,  a  century 
and  a  half  ahead  of  my  day.  If  I  could  have  lived  now 
I  could  use  my  special  talent  to  become  a  billionaire, 
and  that  is  why  I  am  here  to-night,  for  I  have  come  to 
show  you  the  way,  or  the  new  road,  that  is  legalized, 
to  plundered  riches. 

"  I  have  lately  learned  from  the  '  shades'  of  passed- 
on  mortals  that  '  Micky,'  the  head  of  your  kite  firm, 
is  ambitious  to  own  the  earth,  including  the  bronze 
railing  on  its  outside  edge,  but  if  he  expects  to  scoop 
in  the  whole  business  he  will  never  make  it  out  of  the 
kite  industry.  Ha,  ha,  ha !  my  boys,  if  you  want  to 
own  the  earth  you  must  drop  kites  and  adopt  scheming. 
Let  others  toil  and  work,  but  you  must  join  the  stock 
exchange  and  be  in  position,  when  you  want  to,  to  do 
your  own  buying  and  selling  if  necessary,  although  you 
can  employ  plenty  of  others  to  do  it  for  you. 

"  In  the  old  days  we  were  taught  that  the  value  of  an 
article  depended  on  the  supply  and  demand  and  the 
number  of  days'  work  that  was  invested  in  its  manu- 
facture; that  is  still  true  to-day  in  the  lives  of  those 
who  toil ;  but  under  the  new  regime  there  is  a  class  of 
people  who,  without  labor  of  any  kind,  gather  into 
their  safe  deposit  vault  all  the  wealth  that  the  real 
toilers  save,  and  they  do  it  under  the  guise  of  a  new 
department  of  political  economy  styled  '  investments/ 
all  of  which  is  protected  by  law. 

"  When  a  community  by  labor  and  skill  has  pro-, 
duced  property  to  the  extent  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars,  then  there  appear  on  the  scene  schemers 


388  •  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

or  promoters  of  great  enterprises,  and  by  urgent  solici- 
tation and  flaming  advertisements  induce  the  eco- 
nomical to  invest  their  savings  in  schemes  that  are 
lauded  to  the  skies,  and  are  endorsed  by  unsuspecting 
people  with  honorable  reputations  who  have  been  lured 
into  the  net  of  the  crafty.  Many  of  these  new  com- 
mercial enterprises  are  genuine — that  is,  for  instance, 
where  $100,000  in  money  are  obtained  to  in- 
vest dollar  for  dollar  in  a  factory,  in  ma- 
chinery, and  raw  material  for  honest  production  of 
articles  of  use  and  consumption.  But  the  vast  majority 
of  companies  are  organized  on  the  basis  of  fictitious 
values;  and  it  is  on  this  subject  that  I  have  come  to- 
night to  give  you  information.  For  example,  a  few 
men  may  go  to  the  mining  districts,  and  for  the  sum  of 
$500  will  secure  under  the  law  a  piece  of  land,  and  then 
spend  an  additional  $1000  in  sinking  a  shaft  and  suc- 
ceed in  discovering  some  trace  or  indications  of  gold. 
If  they  are  honest  men,  they  will  further  explore  under 
the  surface  and  if  possible  lay  bare  a  fortune.  If  they 
find  the  fortune,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred 
they  will  keep  it  all  to  themselves,  and  ask  no  one  to 
join  them  in  taking  out  the  precious  metal,  and  will 
not  part  with  the  smallest  interest  in  it  excepting  for 
a  price  beyond  its  real  value. 

"  But  such  cases  by  comparison  are  rare ;  for  the 
vast  majority  of  the  men  engaged  in  mining  are  those 
who,  after  spending  their  first  thousand  dollars  and 
discovering  the  indications  or  traces  of  gold,  instead 
of  spending  a  year  more  of  their  time  in  further  pros- 
pecting on  the  property,  in  order  to  be  doubly  sure  of 
having  a  paying  mine,  prefer  to  seek  the  acquaintance 
and  services  of  a  smart  promoter  of  enterprises,  gener- 
ally an  accomplished  rascal,  who  advises  them  to  form, 
Binder  the  laws  of  some  State,  a  company  with  $1,000,- 
ooo  capital.  They  then  in  a  '  lawful'  manner  sell  this 
$iooo-piece  of  land,  that  they  miscall,  a  mine,  to  the 


CAGLIOSTRO.  389 

new  company  for  the  entire  million  dollars  of  its  stock, 
which  newly  issued  stock  they  divide  among  them- 
selves, and  then  will  go  out  into  the  midst  of  a  confid- 
ing public  and  with  an  elaborate  prospectus  sell,  if  they 
can,  the  entire  stock  at  par,  which  amounts  to  $1,000,- 
o'oo  cash.  They  will  then  put  back  into  the  treasury  of 
the  company  $100,000  for  a  cash  capital,  and  with  this 
cash  work,  or  preferably  let  some  one  else  work,  and 
develop  the  property.  These  villainous  promoters  of 
the  enterprise  and  the  original  miners  have  thus  put 
into  their  own  pockets  $900,000  of  other  people's  hard- 
earned  money,  all  of  which  becomes  good,  solid  cash 
in  bank  for  the  schemers  to  own,  but  represents  a  vac- 
uum or  fictitious  value  to  the  holders  or  victims  or 
purchasers  of  the  stock ;  in  other  words,  the  stock  cer- 
tificates are  a  fictitious  value  to  the  victims  to  the  ex- 
tent of  that  pocketed  $900,000  cash,  and  these  victims 
or  new  holders  of  the  stock  certificates  have  to  take 
their  slim  chances  of  ever  seeing  their  invested  money 
again.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  mine  will  ever  pro- 
duce a  dollar  of  dividends.  The  world  well  knows  how 
many  people  with  moderate  incomes  and  how  many 
rich  people  with  large  incomes  have  been  duped  in  this 
manner.  Their  name  is  legion,  and  the  transaction  is 
legal  and  according  to  the  law  of  the  land ;  ha,  ha,  ha ! 
all  legal  and  according  to  the  law.  In  my  day,  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  I  was  imprisoned  for  transactions  that 
were  innocent  compared  with  such  a  swindle.  Ha,  ha, 
ha !  boys,  it  makes  me  almost  eternally  smile  aloud  to 
see  how  easy  my  life  would  have  been  in  this  enlight- 
ened era.  Such  mining  transactions  are  being  worked 
every  day  of  this  present  year  and  decade,  and  it  is  all 
legal ;  ha,  ha,  ha !  all  that  is  wanted  is  the  willing  vic- 
tims. 

"  About  one  mine  in  a  thousand  is  all  that  ever 
proves  successful — that  is,  giving  or  paying  back  to 
the  investors  their  original  money,  while  on  the  other 


39°  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

hand  the  rest  of  the  vast  millions  and  millions  and 
hundreds  of  millions  of  good,  honest  dollars  '  scooped' 
in  by  the  schemers  represent  nothing  but  fictitious 
values,  for  which  the  unfortunate  dupes  who  parted 
with  their  cash  have  nothing  to  show  excepting  certifi- 
cates of  stock  worth  only  one-half  cent  a  pound  for 
waste  paper.  This  was  called  '  Investments/  and  was 
all  legal ;  ha,  ha,  ha !  and  these  are  the  closing  years  of 
the  enlightened  nineteenth  century ;  ha,  ha,  ha ! 

"  Another  favorite  plan  of  creating  fictitious  values 
is  in  patents.  A  man  conceives  a  brilliant  idea  and  gets 
a  patent,  costing  him  in  legal  services  $100  for  the 
patent.  He  then  places  it  in  the  hands  of  an  out-of-jail 
schemer,  who  legally  organizes  the  usual  $1,000,000  or 
$10,000,000  stock  company,  and  sells  to  the  new  com- 
pany the  patent  that  had  cost  him  but  $100.  He  sells 
it  to  tjie  corporation  for  its  entire,  say,  $1,000,000  of 
stock,  and  then  if  he  can,  he  sells  the  stock  to  the  gul- 
lible public  for  $1,000,000  cash,  or  whatever  he 
can  get,  and  puts  back  into  the  company  the  usual 
$100,000  for  working  capital,  and  then  leaving  some 
one  to  run  the  company,  the  inventor  and  the  promoter 
take  the  possible  $900,000  profit  and  go  to  Europe  or 
otherwise  spend  or  invest  their  legally  obtained  money 
to  suit  their  own  sweet,  spendthrift  wills,  while  the 
widows  and  orphans  left  at  home  suffer  bodily  and 
mentally  for  a  lifetime,  and  die  in  poverty.  Many  en- 
terprises founded  on  patents  have  succeeded  and  re- 
turned fortunes  to  those  who  risked  their  money,  but 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  have  left  the  pockets 
of  confiding  people,  and  they  have  nothing  left  to  show 
for  their  money  excepting  stock  certificates,  and  weep- 
ing, homeless  families,  and  it  is  all  legal  and  according 
to  law ;  ha,  ha,  ha !  boys,  all  according  to  law.  I  lived 
too  soon  for  a  gentleman  of  my  qualifications. 

"  But  the  grandest  enterprises  of  this  age  in  which 
smart  men  who  never  in  their  lifetime  have  known 


CAGLIOSTRO.  39! 

what  it  was  to  work  and  produce  an  actual  dollar  of 
value,  smart  men  who  have  from  nothing  wound  up  a 
successful  life  with  $100,000,000  to  their  credit,  the 
grandest  enterprises  for  such  schemers  are  railroads, 
and  business  houses,  and  manufacturing  concerns  that 
can  be  incorporated  and  bonded. 

"  When  I  think  of  this  present  era  of  golden  oppor- 
tunities for  creating  fictitious  values  my  spirit  fairly 
trembles  with  rage  that  I,  Cagliostro,  should  have  been 
so  unfortunate  as  to  have  been  born  a  century  too  soon. 

"  Railroad  building  and  railroad  smashing  and  rail- 
road wrecking  and  bond  manipulating  and  stock  gerry- 
mandering and  '  trust'  forming  would  have  been  the 
sweetest  kind  of  an  afternoon  luncheon  for  my  high 
tastes  and  fitness  in  the  art  of  finance.  Think  of  it,  an 
opportunity  in  one  afternoon  to  create  ten  million  of 
fictitious  values,  and  pocket  the  money,  and  all  accord- 
ing to  law,  and  to  think  that  I  am  not  in  it,  I,  Caglios- 
tro, I,  not  able  to  enjoy  such  a  game.  I  would  give  a 
million  years  of  future  existence  to  be  on  earth  once 
more,  if  for  only  twenty  years  I  could  be  a  Wall  Street 
banker,  and  have  a  chance  to  form  my  own  syndicates. 
I  could  teach  the  present  financial  '  high-binders'  a  few 
points  that  would  make  them  turn  green  with  envy; 
and  just  to  think  it  is  all  according  to  law ;  protected 
by  law  to  do  things  that  a  hundred  years  ago  would 
have  transported  me  for  life.  Ha,  ha,  ha !  what  a  joy 
it  would  be  to  live  now.  What  a  title  I  could  win. 
How  would  this  sound,  Cagliostro,  Colossal  Corrupt- 
ing Corporation  Creator,  Prince  of  Fictitious  Values, 
and  all  according  to  law ;  ha,  ha,  ha ! 

*'  But,  my  dear  boys — 

Just  then  two  strikes  of  a  gong  rang  loud  and  clear ; 
Cagliostro  stopped  suddenly  and  said : 

"  Excuse  me,  boys,  I  must  go,  as  I  have  been  sum- 
moned to  stir  up  the  fires,"  and  he  disappeared  amidst 
a  grand  burst  of  pyrotechnic  glory  Then  darkness 


392  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

reigned  supreme  in  the  cellar  and  naught  was  heard  but 
the  beating  and  thumping  of  the  hearts  of  the  aston- 
ished kite  firm. 

The  candle  had  been  blown  out,  the  outside  storm 
had  rolled  away,  and  quietness  reigned  supreme.  Micky 
lighted  the  candle,  Sally  awakened,  and  without  say- 
ing a  word  to  one  another  they  all  continued  their  par- 
ticular work  and  kept  at  it  until  ten  o'clock,  and  if  a 
stranger  could  have  glanced  at  the  group  he  would  have 
surmised  that  each  one  of  the  party  was  perfectly 
oblivious  of  the  other's  presence  excepting  for  the  oc- 
casional exchange  of  wondering  glances,  as  if  to  say : 
"  What  does  it  all  mean?" 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

CLEARING-HOUSE. 

MANY  children  of  to-day  do  not  know  what  a 
market-basket  is,  and  if  things  keep  on  at  the  same  pace 
as  at  present,  in  fifty  years  there  will  be  no  such  thing 
in  existence  excepting  in  a  museum,  whereas  fifty  years 
ago  every  well-regulated  household  had  at  least  two 
Some  one,  not  a  servant,  in  the  family  (rich  and  well- 
to-do  families  as  well  as  poor  families)  would  go  to 
market  or  the  grocery,  select  and  buy  the  household 
supplies,  and  carry  the  basket  and  contents  home  on 
her  arm  or  in  her  family  carriage.  It  was  the  fashion- 
able thing  for  mothers  to  go  to  market.  Not  so  now. 
A  clerk  drives  up  to  the  front  door  in  a  grocery  wagon, 
takes  the  order,  and  then  later  everything  has  to  be 
brought  to  the  front  door  in  another  delivery  wagon. 
Some  grocerymen  have  ten  to  twenty  wagons,  which 
adds  to  the  cost  of  living;  but  the  new  system  gives 
employment  to  others  and  helps  the  surplus  population 
to  their  individual  wages. 

Formerly  the  women-folks  of  the  family  would  go 
on  their  shopping  tours  and  return  laden  with  numer- 
ous small  packages,  but  now  a  spool  of  thread  or  a 
lo-cent  ruche  must  go  by  way  of  the  expensive  delivery 


394  THE    K!TE    TRUST. 

department — some  dry-goods  stores  having  two  hun- 
dred wagons — and  in  addition  the  ruche  is  inserted  in 
a  neat,  printed  card-board  box.  This  box,  unknow- 
ingly to  the  customer,  adds  a  little  to  the  cost  of  the 
family  expenses.  Itlis  the  little  things  that  expand 
in  the  end  to  a  considerable  sum,  all  of  which  comes  out 
of  "  father's"  salary,  and  the  ladies  do  not  realize  that 
it  is  even  costing  them  something  for  the  wages  of  the 
colored  boys  who  have  graciously  opened  the  doors  of 
the  twenty-two  dry-goods  stores  they  have  entered  one 
by  one  while  out  shopping,  and  that  they  are  paying  for 
the  brilliant  electric  lighting  and  the  wonderful  ex- 
pense of  decorating  the  elaborately  designed  Christmas 
and  every-day  show-windows.  The  customers  in  the 
end  have  to  pay  for  all  such  modern  and  stylish  inno- 
vations. But  people  seem  to  like  it,  and  so  goes  the 
social  advancement;  and  thus  the  old  theory,  that  the 
wealth  of  a  nation  consists  in  the  savings  on  small 
things,  seems  to  be  confuted,  since  the  whole  country 
by  this  advanced  mode  of  conducting  business  becomes 
richer  at  the  end  of  each  decade ;  which,  of  course, 
must  be  due  to  other  causes  than  that  old-fashioned 
idea  of  extremest  economy. 

The  tendency  of  this  inventive  age  is  to  dispense 
with  the  old  systems  and  establish  new  methods.  These 
new  methods  invariably  aim  to  require  fewer  work- 
men ;  but  to  produce  these  new  methods  the  discharged 
hands  are  employed  in  the  industries  that  are  estab- 
lished to  introduce  the  new  systems,  and  so  all  things 
go  smoothly  and  every  person  seems  in '  the  end  to 
have  something  to  do  until  a  panic  comes,  and  then 
the  whole  nation  is  disturbed.  Hence,  it  follows  that 
legislators  should  devise  plans  to  prevent  financial  dis- 
turbances, and  law-makers  will  find  in  the  end  that  the 
only  remedy  for  them  is  in  the  harmonizing  of  human- 
ity by  the  establishing  of  all  departments  of  industry 
into  individual  trusts.  In  this  way  every  wage-earner 


CLEARING-HOUSE.  395 

eventually  will  be  a  part  of  the  industrial  world,  and 
be  fathered  into  his  own  trade  or  professional  family ; 
receiving  an  interest  and  income  by  comparison  with 
his  associates,  in  proportion  to  his  ability. 

The  exclusive  privilege  for  delivering  merchandise, 
no  doubt,  will  some  day  be  one  of  the  great  trusts.  This 
one  giant  combination  will  include  all  railroad,  steam- 
boat, trucking,  and  other  means  of  package  convey- 
ance, and  one  of  its  departments  will  be  the  delivery  of 
goods  from  retail  stores.  When  such  a  system  does 
come,  it  will  cost  the  retail  stores  less  than  it  does  at 
present  for  their  delivery  department,  and  consequently 
less  to  the  purchasers,  who,  in  the  end,  have  to  pay  for 
it  all. 

One  of  the  most  important  and  cumbersome  old- 
fashioned  delivery  features  in  the  past  has  been .  the 
manner  of  handling  certificates  of  stocks  and  bonds, 
which  amounted  annually  to  tens  of  billions  of  dollars. 
Formerly  a  man  would  go  personally  to  a  broker's  of- 
fice, give  an  order  for  purchase  of  securities,  pay  down 
the  cash,  and  carry  the  certificates  to  his  own  place  of 
business,  or  to  a  box  in  some  safe-deposit  vault  But 
as  the  volume  of  business  increased,  the  brokers  formed 
an  association  called  the  Stock  Exchange,  where,  to 
accommodate  their  customers  as  well  as  themselves, 
they  met  daily  to  buy  and  sell  to  one  another ;  and  the 
thousand  brokerage  firms  had  two  or  three  thousand 
men  and  boys  constantly  employed  to  deliver  the  se- 
curities they  had  purchased.  Millions  and  tens  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars  in  certificates  were  thus  daily  intrusted 
to  district  messenger  boys-  and  old  men,  to  deliver  in 
many  out-of-the-way  streets,  running  great  risks,  in 
various  manners,  of  the  stock  certificates  and  bonds 
being  lost  or  stolen. 

To  avoid  such  risks,  and  to  better  systematize  and 
more  easily  handle  their  securities,  the  brokers  later 
organized  one  central  office,  called  a  clearing-house, 


396  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

where  they  could  go  and  have  all  deliveries  between 
themselves  made ;  a  far  less  number  of  messengers  thus 
being  required,  but  giving  greater  security,  and  mak- 
ing a  perfect  system  in  the  consummation  of  their 
transactions. 

For  instance,  if  a  broker  bought  during  the  day  from 
various  other  brokers  1000  shares  of  a  certain  stock, 
and  sold  900  shares  of  the  same  kind,  then  at  the  close 
of  that  day's  business  the  difference,  or  100  shares, 
would  be  all  he  would  be  entitled  to  receive  from  the 
clearing-house.  If  he  had  sold  1000  and  bought  900, 
then  the  difference  would  have  been  against  him,  and 
he  would  have  had  to  deliver  instead  of  receive  100 
shares. 

If  the  broker's  purchase  and  sales  of  that  particular 
stock  had  been  even  in  amount,  then  he  would  have 
had  nothing  to  receive  from  or  deliver  to  the  clearing- 
house, excepting  to  send  a  clerk  there  with  the  various 
memorandum  slips  recording  the  separate  transactions. 

In  the  first  place  the  vast  majority  of  certificates  of 
stock  are  dealt  in  in  loo-share  lots,  or  multiples  thereof, 
such  as  100,  200,  300,  500,  1000,  5000,  etc.,  which 
facilitates  business  at  the  clearing-house. 

To  be  more  explicit,  if  a  broker  during  any  one  day 
bought  from  ten  other  brokers  a  total  of  1000  shares 
of  any  one  kind  of  stock,  then  all  he  would  have  to  do 
would  be  to  go  to  the  clearing-house  and  receive  it,  all 
in  one  bundle,  as  the  other  ten  brokers  from  whom  he 
purchased  it  were  bound  to  promptly  deliver  it  to  the 
clearing-house  officers,  at  a  stated  hour.  Or  if  that 
same  broker,  instead  of  buying,  had  sold  to  ten  other 
brokers  a  total  of  1000  shares  of  any  one  stock,  he 
himself  was  the  one  who  was  bound  to  deliver  it  all 
at  the  clearing-house,  whose  staff  of  officers  and  clerks 
would  hand  it  over  to  the  broker  or  brokers  who  had 
purchased  it.  But  if  from  various  brokers  he  had 
bought  the  1000  shares  for  some  of  his  customers, 


CLEARING-HOUSE.  397 

and  to  other  brokers  had  sold  an  equal  number  or  1000 
shares  of  the  same  stock,  then  the  account  balanced  as 
far  as  he  was  concerned,  and  he  was  not  indebted  to 
the  clearing-house  nor  the  clearing-house  to  him  for  a 
single  share,  and  he  sent  nothing  there  excepting  the 
various  memorandum  slips  for  the  2000  shares  (1000 
bought  and  1000  sold),  and  the  bookkeepers  at  the 
clearing-house  did  all  the  rest  of  the  calculations  and 
deliveries  and  settling  of  accounts. 

If  during  that  particular  day  all  the  brokers  together 
had  bought  a  total  of  100,000  shares  of  any  one  stock 
— say  Erie — then,  as  a  natural  consequence,  some  other 
brokers  must  have,  sold  it  all,  thus  doubling  the  mem- 
orandums of  the  transactions,  and  making  a  grand 
total  of  bookkeeping  entries  of  200,000  shares  in  that 
one  stock,  wherein  only  100,000  shares  had  been 
traded  in. 

When  evening  arrives  the  clearing-house  finds  that 
those  brokers  who  had  done  the  selling  of  the  100,000 
'shares  had  only  99,000  shares  among  themselves  to  de- 
liver to  those  who  had  bought  100,000  shares;  then 
some  of  the  brokers  who  had  oversold  had  to  make  up 
this  difference  of  1000  shares  by  borrowing  it  over 
night  from  some  outside  investors  or  capitalists  'who 
held  Erie  stock  in  their  safe,  and  when  they  borrowed 
it  and  delivered  it  at  the  clearing-house,  then  the  200,- 
ooo  shares  (bookkeeping  transactions)  in  that  particu- 
lar stock  were  satisfactorily  closed  for  the  day.  Very 
often  these  outside  holders  or  capitalists  corner  the 
market  and  will  not  help  the  brokers  out,  and  ruin 
them,  and  the  next  day  prices  rise  to  tremendous  figures 
and  failures  occur,  which  is  the  danger  of  selling 
''  short"  or  "  what  one  hasn't  got."  If  any  broker  failed 
to  make  good  his  share  of  that  day's  shortage  at  the 
clearing-house,  then  he  was  publicly  reported  and  his 
shortage  publicly  bid  for,  and  he  became  among  the 
number  of  those  who  "  failed,"  and  he  would  be  sus- 


39§  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

pended  from  doing  further  business  on  the  Exchange 
until  he  made  his  shortage  good.  But  failures  are 
comparatively  few  and  far  between  on  the  Stock  Ex- 
change, and  for  the  volume  of  business  done  it  is  won- 
derful— far  less  than  in  mercantile  trading. 

The  above  description  of  stock  transactions  on  the 
Exchange  would  be  an  easy  plan  and  a  fair  illustration 
of  settling  stock  business,  providing  there  were  only 
one  or  two  different  kinds  of  stocks  to  be  bought  and 
sold,  and  the  picture  is  given  only  as  an  illustration  of 
how  hundreds  of  thousands  of  shares  of  stock  can  be 
dealt  in,  while  only  a  few  actual  certificates  pass  from 
hand  to  hand ;  thus  by  the  above  account  100,000  shares 
can  be  bought  and  sold  and  only  1000  shares  used  for 
settling.  In  fact,  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  all  the  stock 
transactions  are  not  represented  by  actual  certificates 
changing  ownership ;  it  is  mostly  all  fictitious,  and  very 
few  call  for  the  stock  certificates  they  have  bought,  for 
it  is  mostly  all  gambling. 

But  as  there  are  several  hundred  different  kinds  of 
stocks  for  sale  on  the  Exchange,  even  the  above  plan 
of  settlement  would  be  very  complicated;  and  for  an 
easy  way  of  closing  their  enormous  daily  transactions 
in  such  a  variety  of  stocks,  the  various  brokers  use  the 
Stock  Exchange  clearing-house  as  follows : 

Each  broker  keeps  a  memorandum  sheet  of  all  the 
stocks  he  buys  during  the  day,  and  a  separate  sheet  for 
all  he  sells.  If,  among  his  brother  brokers,  at  the  close 
of  business,  "  A"  finds  he  has  bought  $1,000,000  worth 
of  a  variety  of  stocks  and  sold  $975,000,  then  he  ("A") 
owes  in  cash  to  some  of  his  brother  brokers  the  dif- 
ference ($25,000),  and  he  then  sends  his  certified  check 
for  that  sum  to  the  clearing-house,  where  they  take  his 
two  memorandum  sheets  above  mentioned  and  settle 
with  his  various  brokers  (each  broker  sending  a  clerk 
to  the  clearing-house).  It  thus  happens  that  "  A"  dur- 
ing that  day  has  done  nearly  two  million  dollars'  ($i,- 


CLEARING-HOUSE.  399 

975,000)  worth  of  business  and  required  only  $25,000 
cash  for  settling  the  whole  of  the  giant  transactions. 
In  the  old  way  he  would  have  been  required  to  draw 
two  or  three  hundred  checks,  and  employ  twenty  mes- 
sengers instead  of  one  clearing-house  clerk  and  one 
clearing-house  check. 

If  the  transaction  were  the  other  way,  and  $25,000 
was  due  to  "  A,"  then  the  clearing-house  would  send 
"  A"  a  check  for  $25,000;  and  when  it  comes  to  the 
question  of  actually  delivering  stock  to  some  broker 
named  "  B,"  to  whom  it  is  due,  and  needed  by  him, 
then  the  clearing-house  would  give  "  B"  an  order  on 
some  other  broker  ("  C"  or  "  D"  or  "  E")  who  owed 
the  clearing-house  some  of  that  particular  stock  on  that 
particular  day's  transactions. 

The  clearing-house  is  thus  a  rendezvous  for  the 
clerks  from  each  of  the  brokers  who  have  transacted 
business  between  one  another  in  a  single  day.  Each 
day's  business  in  the  clearing-house  is  supposed  to  be 
closed  up  entire  and  complete  in  itself.  The  clearing- 
house, with  its  staff  of  officers,  starts  out  each  morning 
without  a  cent  of  capital,  and  during  the  day  it  receives 
certified  checks  for  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
from  that  half  of  the  brokers  who  have  bought  stock. 
All  of  this  money  belongs  to  the  other  half  who  have 
sold,  and  to  whom  the  clearing-house  pays  it,  and  then 
closes  the  day's  business  without  a  dollar  on  hand,  the 
same  as  it  found  itself  in  the  morning  when  it  started 
in  business. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  art  when  Mr.  Michael 
Flynn,  of  Cincinnati,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  made 
his  appearance  on  Wall  Street,  having  in  his  possession 
$3,500,000  in  cash  and  good  marketable  securities.  He 
rented  a  cheap  office  on  Broad  Street,  and  commenced 
a  financial  stock-gambling  career  as  a  planetary,  not  a 
meteoric,  plunger,  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the 
world. 


4OO  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

There  is  a  difference  between  a  stock-broker  and  a 
stock-gambler.  A  man  can  be  a  member  of  the  New 
York  Stock  Exchange  and  buy  and  sell  stocks  for  a 
lifetime  and  not  be  a  gambler,  providing  he  sticks  to 
his  broker  business  of  buying  and  selling  for  others, 
for  he  is  then  rendering  a  service  to  his  customers,  for 
which  he  receives  his  honest  pay.  He  is  in  no  manner 
doing  differently  from  doctors,  lawyers,  artists,  mer- 
chants, and  tradesmen  generally,  for  they  all  render  a 
service  likewise  to  their  clients  and  customers,  and 
likewise  receive  or  should  receive  their  honest  pay. 

But  when  a  stock-broker  buys  and  sells  for  himself, 
watching  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  market,  and  takes  ad- 
vantage for  himself  of  his  experience  as  to  when  it  is 
time  to  buy  or  sell,  then  he  is  as  much  a  gambler  as  the 
man  at  the  faro  or  poker  table. 

In  like  degree  the  broker's  customer  may,  for  in- 
stance, be  a  man  of  large  or  small  means  who  wishes 
to  invest  his  capital  or  income  or  savings  from  his 
salary  in  stocks  and  bonds  that  will  bring  him  in  an 
annual  interest;  if  so,  he  is  no  more  a  gambler  than  is 
a  minister  or  priest.  But  if  he  goes  down  on  Wall 
Street,  not  as  a  permanent  investor,  but  only  to  buy  and 
sell  for  a  rise  and  fall  in  the  market,  changing  his 
holdings  from  day  to  day,  or  month  to  month,  then  he 
is  a  gambler  on  a  par  with  the  patrons  of  Monte  Carlo, 
for  he  may  buy  and  sell  stocks  to  the  amount  of  a 
billion  of  dollars  annually  and  never  have  a  single 
actual  share  pass  through  his  hands.  So  also  is  the 
wholesale  grocery  merchant  or  other  dealer  in  mer- 
chandise a  gambler  who  speculates  in  his  line  of  goods 
beyond  what  he  knows  to  be  the  amount  needed  for  the 
actual  requirements  of  supplying  his  legitimate  cus- 
tomers with  such  goods  as  he  is  engaged  in  business 
to  furnish  them  with;  but  these  wholesale  merchants 
are  not  gamblers  as  long  as  they  stick  to  their  business 
and  render  a  service  to  mankind  by  gathering  for  them 


CLEARING-HOUSE.  4OI 

into  convenient  centres  such  goods  as  human  beings 
need,  in  such  quantities  as  their  trade  demands. 

Some  of  these  stock-gamblers  try  to  ease  their  con- 
sciences by  making  all  manner  of  technical  excuses  to 
exonerate  themselves  from  the  charge  of  gambling,  but 
the  more  excuses  they  make  the  worse  their  argu- 
ment, and  the  more  seared  become  their  consciences. 
There  are  no  excuses  to  be  made  for  a  wrecker,  or  de- 
presser  or  one  who  sells  "  short."  Selling  short  is 
either  pure  gambling  or  taking  advantage  of  the  igno- 
rance of  others. 

There  are  numerous  and  very  fine  shadings  of  con- 
science on  the  subject  of  speculations  that  most  of  the 
better  world  claim  comes  within  the  pale  of  gambling. 
There  is  much  difference  of  opinion  regarding  it. 
When,  for  instance,  a  man  sees  or  hears  of  something 
that  he  considers  low  in  price  and  buys  it  for  a  rise, 
expecting  to  reap  a  harvest  thereby,  if  it  is  a  matter 
connected  with  his  own  business,  then  the  application 
can  be  made  as  referred  to  in  the  above-mentioned  case 
of  the  wholesale  grocer  or  dry-goods  dealer;  but  if  it 
is  an  article  entirely  foreign  to  his  own  business,  then 
if  he  has  a  tender  conscience  and  is  debating  with  him- 
self on  the  subject  of  gambling,  he  must  ask  the  ques- 
tions of  himself,  Am  1  rendering  a  service  to  mankind 
in  entering  into  this  affair?  Am  I  advancing  the  article 
in  value  or  am  I  helping  to  depress  it,  saying,  "  It  is 
naught,  saith  the  buyer"?  or  am  I  a  prowling  spirit 
of  capital  seeking  whom  I  may  devour — expecting  to 
increase  my  bank  account  by  the  perplexities  or  mis- 
fortunes of  others,  or  by  my  superior  knowledge  or 
guesswork  at  the  future  of  things?  Am  I  expecting 
to  make  more  money  on  the  capital  I  am  going  to  in- 
vest in  the  transaction  than  I  would  if  I  put  my  money 
out  at  the  rate  of  interest  that  the  honorable  surround- 
ing world  of  commerce  claims  is  the  proper  rate  or 
income  that  accumulated  labor,  in  the  form  of  capital, 


4O2  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

should  tax  human  beings  for  its  use?  Am  I  trying, 
without  labor  or  effort,  to  get  something  for  nothing  ? 

Or,  on  the  other  hand,  do  I  feel  that  my  capital  is 
my  own,  and  it  makes  no  difference  who  suffers  or 
loses  or  who  is  unhappy  or  unfortunate,  or  who  is 
being  downed  in  the  commercial  struggle,  or  whether 
the  party  of  the  second  part  is  ignorant  of  the  value  of 
his  holdings,  or  who  it  is  that  I  am  dealing  with — 
whether  relative,  friend,  or  foe  ?  or,  no  matter  what  the 
circumstances  are,  am  I  not  here  to  increase  my  money 
by  every  means  that  is  not  in  violation  of  law  ?  Should 
it  be  a  question  to  me  of  conscience  ?  is  it  not  only  one 
of  making  money  ?  It  is  not  my  fault  that  other  people 
are  hard  up  and  want  my  money ;  all  I  know  is  that  I 
have  the  money  and  I  am  going  to  make  all  I  can  out  of 
it  above  legal  interest,  and  it  is  nobody's  business  but 
my  own. 

Such  are  some  of  the  questions  that  are  debatable, 
but  the  majority  of  mankind  do  not  debate  at  all  on  the 
subject;  because  making  the  best  of  a  bargain  is  a  part 
of  their  life,  it  seems  to  be  commercial  ethics.  The 
negative  side  mentioned  is  to  most  of  mankind  their 
law  and  gospel,  and  it  is  all  lawful,  according  to  man's 
law.  But  what  doth  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul?  If  he  moves  his  life  on 
the  grasping  principle,  there  will  be  a  time  when  he 
will  be  confronted  with  many  unwritten  volumes  of 
commercial  history  that  he  made  himself.  He  never 
read  history,  he  made  it ;  he  had  no  time  to  read  if  after 
he  made  it. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  people  put  money  into  an 
enterprise  outside  of  their  own  business  and  follow  it 
up  with  possible  further  capital  and  enterprise,  and  put 
their  own  time  into  it,  or  pay  others  for  putting  their 
time  into  it,  and  strive  to  create  values,  and  thereby  do 
the  world  some  service,  then  that  is  business  and  not 
gambling;  it  is  the  proper  way  of  employing  idle  cap- 


CLEARING-HOUSE.  403 

ital.  Under  this  heading  comes  the  manipulation  for 
higher  figures  of  some  incorporated  property  that  is 
known  to  have  a  prosperous  future ;  but  to  handle  this 
subject  in  the  line  of  defence  requires  very  fine  dis- 
crimination. 

The  men  sitting  at  the  gambling  tables  at  Monte 
Carlo  receive  $5  per  night  for  their  services  in  attend- 
ing to  their  duties ;  they  are  not  gamblers ;  they  are  no 
more  gamblers  than  the  scrub-woman  who  cleans  up 
the  floor  and  also  receives  her  pay  from  the  wealthy 
gambler  or  proprietor  who  owns  the  place  and  makes 
or  loses  the  money  by  his  nefarious  calling.  The  profits 
of  the  Monte  Carlo  gambling  establishment  in  one 
year  amounted  to  $2,500,000.  One  item  of  their  ex- 
pense account  was  "  $60,000  in  salaries  to  the  bishop 
and  clergy." 

Those  who  do  not  gamble  could  well  say  that  those 
card  dealers  or  ivory-ball  manipulators  or  other  em- 
ployes at  the  Monte  Carlo  tables  had  better  be  engaged 
in  some  nobler  plan  of  getting  a  living;  but  they  can 
not  be  called  gamblers  any  more  than  they  can  say  that 
the  young  lady  at  the  booth-window  is  a  gambler  be- 
cause she  takes  in  the  tickets  at  a  horse  race.  She  is 
paid  for  her  services  and  needs  the  money  and  earns  it, 
and  it  may  all  go  to  pay  rent  in  an  honest,  humble 
home;  but  we  all  can  feel  sorry  that  she  cannot  find 
something  better  to  do  and  keep  better  company.  It  is 
the  man  who  instigates  the  speculation  or  gambling, 
and  makes  or  loses  by  it,  and  has  the  money  at  stake, 
who  is  the  gambler — not  the  broker  or  employe.  If 
harm  comes  of  such  enterprises,  then  laws  can  be  made 
(if  the  commonwealth  votes  for  it)  to  prohibit  any 
person  from  becoming  even  employes  in  such  affairs. 

Gambling  in  the  form  of  lotteries  or  in  other  phases 
can  be  authorized  by  law,  but  it  can  never  be  classed 
as  moral.  Gambling  is  injurious ;  it  always  brings 
harm  to  the  man  that  loses,  as  well  as  his  dependent 


404  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

ones,  and  also  undermines  the  character  of  the  winner. 
The  total  number  of  suicides  at  Monte  Carlo  has  never 
been  published,  but  the  known  record  of  one  particular 
table  is  1 18. 

Mr.  Michael  Flynn,  of  Cincinnati,  United  States  of 
America,  went  into  Wall  Street  to  be  a  stock-gambler 
pure  and  simple.  He  did  not  indulge  in  a  single  excuse 
to  ease  his  conscience — his  transactions  were  all  gam- 
bling— and  he  employed  stock-brokers  to  buy  and  sell 
stocks  for  him  who  were  not  gambling  themselves,  and 
when  he  found  out  that  any  of  his  brokers  were 
gambling  in  stocks,  he  had  the  good  sense  to  change  to 
some  new  one  who  was  not  a  gambling  speculator,  and 
there  were  plenty  of  them  doing  a  perfectly  legitimate 
brokerage  business — rendering  a  service  to  others  and 
getting  paid  therefor. 

The  term  Wall  Street  does  not  refer  to  the  little, 
narrow  street  of  that  name  that  faces  Trinity  Church 
steeple.  The  location  designated  by  the  name  Wall 
Street  covers  a  number  of  streets,  including  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  square,  the  same  as  the  locality  known  as 
"  Lombard  Street"  covers  a  quarter  of  a  mile  square 
or  more  in  London.  When  speaking  of  Lombard 
Street  or  Wall  Street  it  is  synonymous  with  the  term 
"  money  centre"  or  "  banking  district." 

Micky's  office  was  in  the  centre  of  this  district,  in 
the  Mills  Building,  directly  opposite  the  Stock  Ex- 
change; and  from  the  window  he  could  see  the  "  Ex- 
change," and  also  keep  an  eye  on  the  southwest  corner 
of  the  United  States  Treasury  Building,  half  a  block 
distant. 

He  arrived  in  New  York  at  six  o'clock  Monday  morn- 
ing, and  by  noon  of  the  same  day  had  eaten  his  break- 
fast, had  his  shoes  shined,  read  three  newspapers, 
rented  an  office,  ordered  carpet,  furniture,  stationery, 
and  a  sign  (the  sign  was  painted  on  the  glass  of  the 
door  and  simply  read  Flynn  &  Schmidt),  opened  three 


CLEARING-HOUSE.  405 

bank  accounts,  presented  three  letters  of  introduction, 
sent  three  telegrams  to  Cincinnati,  wrote  five  letters, 
rented  a  big  box  in  the  safe-deposit  vault,  ordered  a 
stock-ticker  and  a  telephone,  then  found  a  cheap  dining- 
room  and  took  a  15-cent  lunch.  After  this  he  presented 
a  letter  of  introduction  to  a  stock-broker,  handed  him, 
for  a  margin,  a  check  for  $100,000,  and  gave  an  order 
to  buy  5000  shares  Western  Union  at  77,  which  was 
the  market  price  and  very  active ;  then  he  went  uptown 
to  Avenue  A,  rented  a  cheap  hall  bedroom  for  $2  per 
week,  returned  to  the  depot  for  his  valise,  hunted  for 
a  cheap  restaurant  near  his  boarding-house,  ate  a  20- 
cent  dinner,  read  two  evening  papers,  and  wound  up 
the  day  by  spending  35  cents  for  a  top-gallery  seat  to 
see  the  "  Black  Crook,"  for  he  had  been  impressed  with 
the  great  thought  that  what  a  business  man  wanted  in 
the  evening  was  lively  diversion.  "  Diversion"  proved 
to  be  only  a  name  with  him,  as  he  spent  most  of  the 
time  in  intricate  stock  figuring  on  the  backs  of  en- 
velopes and  the  evening's  programme,  and  paid  very 
little  attention  to  the  scarcity  of  clothing  worn  by  the 
majority  of  the  young  persons  on  the  stage. 

Micky  brought  to  New  York  $200,000  in  bank 
drafts,  and  government  bonds  of  the  market  value  of 
$3,300,000.  On  the  second  day  he  went  to  the  express 
office  for  his  bonds  and  took  them  to  the  safe-deposit 
vault,  where  they  were  securely  placed  in  his  box, 
which  was  large  enough  to  hold  ten  times  the  amount 
of  his  securities. 

By  noon  of  this  second  day  the  price  of  Western 
Union  was  up  from  77  to  83!,  and  Micky  ordered  his 
5000  shares  sold,  and  had  thus  made  about  $30,000  in 
his  first  gamble  in  New  York.  He  had  been  "  long"  of 
the  market.  When  people  buy  stocks  for  a  rise  it  is 
called  going  "  long"  of  the  market ;  he  had  bought  at 
77,  hoping  it  would  go  up,  and  he  realized  his  hopes, 
as  it  reached  83 -|.  The  transaction  was  as  follows  :  The 


406  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

5000  shares  Micky  bought  at  77  amounted  to  $385,000. 
He  had  given  his  broker  a  check  for  $100,000,  leaving 
a  balance  of  $285,000  still  due  on  the  stock.  With 
Micky's  $100,000  margin  check  and  with  the  addition 
of  his  (the  broker's)  own  check  for  $285,000,  the 
broker  pays  the  bill,  $385,000  for  the  5000  shares,  and 
then  takes  the  5000  shares  to  his  bank  and  borrows 
$285,000  to  make  good  his  own  check  that  he  has  just 
given  for  that  amount.  In  this  manner  the  broker  has 
not  a  dollar  of  his  own  money  invested  in  the  trans- 
action, as  the  margin  ($100,000)  and  the  bank  loan 
($285,000)  have  paid  the  full  $385,000  for  the  5000 
shares  at  77.  When  the  broker  next  day  sold  the  stock 
for  Micky  at  83!  he  received  a  check  for  the  original 
amount,  $385,000,  plus  Micky's  profit  of  $30,000,  and 
then  he  (the  broker)  takes  up  his  bank  loan  of  $285,- 
ooo,  leaving  in  bank  Micky's  original  margin  of  $100,- 
ooo,  plus  Micky's  $30,000  profit.  This  total  of  $130,- 
ooo  belongs  to  Micky,  who  can  immediately  draw  it 
out  of  the  broker's  hands  or  leave  it  there  on  deposit  for 
future  margins. 

This  first  buying  transaction  of  Micky's  was  going 
"  long"  of  the  market  for  5000  shares,  and  his  next 
gamble  was  in  the  opposite  direction,  for  he  imme- 
diately went  "  short"  of  the  market,  and  ordered  his 
broker  to  sell  5000  more  Western  Union  at  84. 

To  go  "  short"  of  the  market  is  to  sell  something 
you  haven't  got,  with  the  hope  of  making  money  by 
buying  it  back  at  a  lower  price  to  "  cover"  yourself,  or, 
more  properly  speaking,  recover  yourself,  for  when  a 
man  sells  "  what  he  hasn't  got"  he  takes  big  risks. 

Micky  sold  the  5000  short  at  84  and  wanted  the 
market  to  be  forced  down,  for  the  lower  it  would  go 
the  more  he  would  make  buying  the  stock  back ;  and 
when  the  exchange  closed  at  three  P.M.  he  had  not 
closed  the  transaction  and  it  was  down  to  80,  and  in 
his  happy,  imaginary  mind  he  had  made  $4  per  share  or 


CLEARING-HOUSE.  407 

$20,000 ;  but  the  next  morning  it  opened  higher  at  82, 
which  reduced  or  cut  off  his  imaginary  profit  to  the 
amount  of  two  per  cent.,  or  $10,000;  it  then  went  up 
to  86,  which  made  him  a  loser  of  $10,000,  for  it  was 
two  per  cent,  higher  than  he  had  sold  it;  then  it  went 
back  to  and  closed  that  evening  at  83,  and  he  was  thus 
again  ahead  and  had  $5000 — in  his  imagination.  The 
next  morning  it  opened  at  81,  which  made  $15,000 
profit ;  then  it  suddenly  went  nine  points  below  his  ven- 
ture price  (84)  down  to  75,  at  which  point  (75)  Micky 
sold  it,  and  thus  actually — not  imaginarily — cleared 
$45,000  in  this,  his  second  gamble. 

Immediately  after  Micky  sold  it,  the  stock  went 
down  to  73,  and  Micky  worried  himself  all  that  even- 
ing, feeling  he  had  lost  an  imaginary  $10,000  by  not 
waiting  a  few  minutes  longer ;  but  he  soon  learned  that 
he  could  not  always  expect  to  buy  at  the  lowest  and 
sell  at  the  highest  price,  and  vice  versa. 

When  the  broker  sold  for  Micky — what  he  hadn't — 
the  5000  Western  Union  short,  he  had  to  keep  his 
credit  good  on  the  Stock  Exchange;  and  in  order  to 
promptly  deliver  it  at  the  clearing-house,  he  imme- 
diately went  to  a  broker  or  capitalist  who  had  some 
Western  Union  stock  on  hand  and  borrowed  the  5000 
shares  to  close  his  account  at  the  clearing-house.  If 
Micky's  broker  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  have 
bought  or  gone  long  for  another  customer  for  2500 
shares  then  he  would  have  only  had  to  borrow  the  dif- 
ference, or  2500  shares,  to  settle  his  business  that  even- 
ing at  the  clearing-house,  and  if  he  had  gone  long  or 
bought  for  the  other  customer  5000  shares  Western 
Union,  then  it  would  have  made  exactly  good  his 
"  shortage"  of  5000  shares  for  Micky's  account,  and 
he  would  not  have  been  obliged  to  borrow  a  single 
share  for  the  day's  transaction.  If  the  broker  was 
doing  business  with  other  clients,  he  would  probably 
not  have  had  to  go  to  bank  to  borrow  a  dollar,  as  his 


408  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

sales  and  purchases  would  have  about  balanced  at  the 
clearing-house  and  a  small  check  would  have  made  his 
account  good  for  the  day's  transactions. 

As  Micky  had  sold  (at  84)  the  5000  shares  Western 
Union  "  short,"  expecting  to  make  money  by  its  going 
down,  still  the  broker  was  himself  made  secure  and  safe 
against  loss  if  it  went  up  as  high  as  no,  -for  he  had 
$130,000  of  Micky's  Ynoney  as  a  margin  or  security  to 
protect  himself.  If  it  went  up  in  the  neighborhood  of 
no,  then  just  before  it  reached  there  Micky  would 
have  been  called  upon  by  the  broker  to  deposit  more 
money  for  margin,  or  else  he  would  close  out  the  trans- 
action before  it  reached  no.  So  a  broker  when  strictly 
a  broker — not  a  speculating  gambler — takes  no  risk,  or 
very  little,  and  if  he  has  a  large  clientage  he  can  make 
large  money ;  but  if  he  gets  to  gambling  himself  he  will 
sooner  or  later  "  go  broke" — and  you  can  depend  on  it. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

PLUNGING. 

MR.  MICHAEL  FLYNN,  of  Cincinnati,  was  a  born 
plunger,  which  Wall  Street  term  is  very  significant. 
A  plunger  is  a  Napoleonic  rusher — one  who  dives  into 
the  din  and  smoke  of  speculation  with  an  utterly  reck- 
less disregard  of  time,  place,  or  circumstance. 

The  great  and  only  real  Napoleon  was  ever  in  the 
thickest  of  the  raging  battle  and  seemed  to  bear  a 
charmed  life;  his  confidence  in  his  star  of  destiny  made 
him  fearless  of  showering  bullets,  cannon-balls,  and  the 
bursting  of  terrifying  bombs ;  his  belief  in  his  future 
and  that  of  his  beloved  France  disarmed  him  of  the 
battle's  terror  and  made  him  fearless  even  at  the  can- 
non's mouth;  and  it  was  even  so  with  Micky  in  his 
new  and  exciting  world  of  speculation.  He  had  no 
more  fear  of  failure  than  Zoroaster  had  of  the  non- 
coming  of  the  rising  sun.  He  keenly  felt  himself  a 
child  of  destiny  and  born  for  success. 

For  one  month  after  his  arrival  in  New  York  he 
never  ventured  beyond  a  speculation  of  5000  shares  at 
a  time.  He  was  learning  and  feeling  his  way,  and  luck 
seemed  to  follow  in  his  every  move.  If  there  was  one 
thing  he  followed  as  a  "  pointer,"  it  was  to  do  just  the 


410  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

reverse  of  what  the  newspapers  indicated.  He  made 
no  ventures  from  any  knowledge  of  his  own  of  the 
market,  but  seemed  to  possess  an  intuition  as  to  when 
to  buy  and  sell  and  what  to  buy  and  sell,  all  of  which 
resulted  by  the  end  of  his  first  month  in  adding  $700,- 
ooo  to  his  bank  account.  But  when  the  second  month 
arrived  he  became  bolder  and  was  seldom  without  ten 
to  twenty  thousand  shares  short  or  long  of  the  market, 
adding  in  this  next  few  weeks  $1,200,000  profit  to  his 
holdings,  which  he  invested  in  railroad  stocks  and 
placed  carefully,  in  packages  of  $100,000,  in  his  safe- 
deposit  box;  each  package  of  $100,000  was  encircled 
with  a  stout  rubber  band  and  enclosed  in  a  snug,  paste- 
board box,  on  the  outside  of  which  was  labelled  its  con- 
tents. He  was  unknown  on  the  street  and  also  even  in 
the  Mills  Building,  where  he  had  his  office.  He  spoke 
to  nobody,  and  the  other  tenants  who  met  him  going 
up  or  down  in  the  elevators  took  him  for  some  new 
clerk  in  one  of  the  many  offices  of  the  building.  He 
sacredly  and  guardedly  kept  his  own  counsel;  and  his 
brokers,  and  their  clerks,  under  the  strictest  orders, 
shrewdly  said  nothing  to  any  one  regarding  their  new 
and  valuable  but  reckless  client,  but  busied  themselves 
to  see  that  his  margins  were  always  beyond  any  chance 
of  nearing  the  danger  line.  Micky  rarely  visited  his 
brokers'  office,  and  when  he  did  no  one  of  the  other 
customers  in  the  office  knew  who  he  was  or  anything 
about  him.  He  spent  most  of  his  time  alone,  without 
a  clerk  or  office  boy,  in  his  own  office,  watching  the 
ticker  and  writing  letters  to  Cincinnati. 

In  the  third  month  the  market  went  against  Micky, 
and  he  found  himself  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  "  profit"  account.  He  had  no  "  profit 
and  loss"  account  on  his  mental  books,  as  he  would  not 
recognize  such  a  term  as  "  loss ;"  his  mental  book  was 
all  "  profit"  account,  and  he  was  surprised  one  day  to 
find  his  brokers  alarmingly  anxious  for  more  margin, 


PLUNGING.  411 

and  to  calm  their  fears  he  took  them  to  his  safe-deposit 
vault  and  showed  them,  much  to  their  astonishment 
and  satisfaction,  $4,000,000  in  gilt-edge  securities, 
which  quieted  them  down  in  an  instant,  and  then  the 
Wall  Street  fight  went  on;  but,  as  usual  in  Micky's 
case,  the  market  took  a  turn  from  the  bad,  and  things 
came  his  way  again,  and  by  the  end  of  the  third  month 
he  was  $900,000  ahead. 

Micky  kept  no  books.  He  destroyed  all  papers  relat- 
ing to  business  as  soon  as  he  had  deposited  the  pro- 
ceeds in  his  safe-deposit  box,  but  the  monthly  balance 
sheet  of  his  brokers  was  filed  away  in  his  deposit  box, 
a  precaution  he  took  in  compliance  with  advice  from 
his  lawyer,  Mr.  Edward  Webster,  who  wished  him  to 
always  keep  evidence  of  his  rightful  ownership  of  the 
property  in  question. 

During  the  fourth  and  fifth  months,  he  frightened 
his  brokers  with  his  utter  recklessness,  having  at  one 
time  230,000  shares  at  stake,  and  when  they  remon- 
strated with  him  he  calmly  asked  if  his  margins  were 
sufficient ;  and  they  answered  yes,  but  that  he  was 
going  beyond  their  idea  of  safety  even  for  a  broker  to 
represent  him,  all  of  which  resulted  in  Micky  getting 
two  additional  brokers  and  dividing  up  the  business. 

By  the  end  of  the  sixth  month  he  had  in  the  safe-de- 
posit vault  $11,000,000  in  securities,  $700,000  cash  in 
his  brokers'  hands,  and  $500,000  on  deposit  in  his  own 
banks. 

During  the  next  six  months  he  was  not  so  fortunate 
as  the  first  half  of  the  year,  for  at  the  end  of  his  first 
year  his  stock  and  bond  holdings  had  not  increased  in 
the  same  proportion,  for  he  had  only  $16,000,000  in 
securities,  which  was  rather  discouraging  to  him,  as  he 
had  confidently  expected  to  have  $20,000,000  by  the 
end  of  his  first  twelve  months. 

It  was  not  all  sunshine  with  him,  as  he  was  beginning 
to  conjure  up  distrust  and  borrow  trouble  as  to  the 


412  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

loyalty  of  his  brokers  and  their  clerks.  He  read  six 
newspapers  a  day,  and  was  up  every  morning  by  five 
o'clock.  He  still  kept  his  $2-a-week  room  on  Avenue 
A,  and  was  always  a  week  behind  in  payment  of  rent, 
and  on  one  occasion  came  near  being  turned  out  by  the 
landlady  for  his  (secretly  intentional)  lack  of  prompt- 
ness in  money  affairs,  for  she  had  no  idea  he  ever 
owned  as  much  as  $5  at  one  time  in  his  whole  life. 

His  breakfast  invariably  cost  him  15  cents;  lunch 
the  same  amount,  and  dinner  20  cents,  but  he  had  been 
extravagant  enough  when  winter  set  in  to  buy  a  $12 
overcoat. 

His  wardrobe  consisted  of  two  shirts,  four  collars, 
one  black  cravat,  one  pair  of  shoes,  one  suit  of  clothes, 
one  overcoat,  one  hat,  two  suits  of  underwear,  a  brush 
and  comb,  a  tooth-brush,  and  a  shoe-polishing  outfit 
Everything  he  had  in  his  hall  bedroom  could  be  placed 
in  a  small  valise,  which  was  his  only  home  place  of 
deposit,  for  the  drawers  in  the  small  bureau  never  con- 
tained anything  except  the  pieces  of  flat  newspaper  the 
landlady  had  carefully  spread  over  the  bottom  of. the 
insides  to  suggest  neatness.  He  was  a  miser,  pure  and 
simple,  but  in  the  end  it  all  paid  for  some  one,  as  it 
proved  a  blessing  to  human  kind. 

His  expenditure  of  35  cents  to  see  the  "  Black 
Crook"  on  his  first  night  in  New  York  was  his  last  ex- 
travagance in  patronizing  theatres,  and  most  of  his 
subsequent  evenings  found  him  in  the  Astor  Library 
gathering  statistics  from  the  world's  commercial  his- 
tory. His  only  change  for  an  evening's  entertainment 
was  in  attending  the  Water  Street  Mission  and  Jerry 
Macauley's  "  Cremorne,"  where  he  learned  of  the 
depths  of  human  woe  and  its  only  seeming  panacea. 
He  never  left  there  without  astonishing  his  own  hov- 
ering angel,  for  each  time  he  conquered  his  miserly 
tendency  by  leaving  behind  him  a  dollar  bill.  He 
made  the  acquaintance  of  a  number  of  "  unfortunates," 


PLUNGING.  413 

who  showed  him  the  misery  of  the  slums,  and  when 
later  he  brushed  by  the  well-dressed  rich,  his  one  desire 
seemed  to  be  to  get  their  money  by  the  "  legal"  chan- 
nels of  trade,  for  he  never  forgot  the  commercial  ethics 
imparted  to  him  by  the  "  shade"  of  Cagliostro. 

One  night  he  made  a  notable  exception  of  himself, 
for  he  spent  $2  for  a  front  seat  in  the  middle  of  the  top 
gallery  at  the  opera-house,  where  he  could  calmly  gaze 
down  on  the  bediamonded  millionaires  who  at  that 
time  owned  most  of  the  money  he  was  after.  He  hired 
an  opera-glass  and  gazed  from  one  to  another,  not  car- 
ing about  their  names,  for  they  were  all  "  the  party  of 
the  second  part"  with  him,  and  his  thoughts  and  plans 
during  those  two  hours  of  music  which  he  did  not  hear, 
would  make  a  wonderful  book,  for  they  were  con- 
nected with  the  moulding  of  the  future  history  of  the 
world. 

During  the  first  six  months  of  his  second  year  he 
had  added  $7,000,000  to  his  securities  and  was  obliged 
to  rent  an  additional  safe  at  the  deposit  company. 

By  the  end  of  the  second  year  he  was  still  silent  and 
unknown,  but  had  been  felt  in  Wall  Street  in  a  won- 
derful speculation.  It  was  his  first  gigantic  experience 
in  finance  and  brought  to  the  front  his  wonderful  nerve 
and  genius  for  recklessness. 

A  spirit  of  over-speculation  had  been  running  riot 
in  the  Exchange  and  prices  had  advanced,  and  then  ad- 
vanced again  and  again.  Micky  had  imbibed  that  most 
genuine  of  all  stock-gambling  instincts,  and  was  be- 
coming a  model  bear  in  his  tendencies,  maturing  a  regu- 
lar mania  for  wrecking  and  smashing  properties  to 
lessen  their  value  and  then  boom  them  for  profit. 

He  had  sold  and  sold,  and  prices  were  against  him, 
for  the  market  kept  rising  and  rising;  yet  he  still  sold 
and  kept  on  selling  more  of  u  what  he  hadn't,"  and 
week  by  week  he  went  to  his  safe-deposit  box  and 
carried  away  more  securities  for  additional  margins 


414  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

for  his  brokers,  to  meet  the  still  advancing  rush  of 
stocks  to  the  upper  figures ;  and  still  prices  kept  climb- 
ing higher  and  higher,  until  one  morning  he  found 
himself  short  of  the  market  400,000  shares  of  various 
stocks  and  only  two  million  of  securities  left  in  his 
safe-deposit  box.  One  more  rise — a  little  five  per  cent. 
— and  he  would  be  "  wiped  out,"  and  20,000.000  of 
his  securities  would  vanish  away  from  him  into  the 
hands  of  others  and  he  would  be  a  failure;  but  that 
night  he  slept  as  calmly  as  a  babe  in  its  cradle.  He 
had  no  fear;  his  nerves  were  iron,  and  he  thought  and 
dreamed  only  of  destiny. 

The  next  morning,  an  uncommon  thing  for  him,  he 
did  not  awaken  until  half  past  nine  o'clock,  and  only 
then  by  the  knocking  of  his  landlady  on  the  door. 
Five  o'clock  A.M.  was  his  usual  hour.  His  astonish- 
ment was  great  at  such  an  unusual  development  of 
laziness  in  him,  but  he  calmly  dressed,  went  to  break- 
fast, and  for  the  first  time  in  months  omitted  buying  a 
newspaper.  He  did  not  arrive  at  his  office  until  eleven 
o'clock — an  hour  after  the  opening  of  the  Exchange — 
and  to  his  surprise,  all  Wall  Street  was  in  a  state  of 
excitement,  and  six  clerks  from  his  brokers  were  vio- 
lently knocking  at  his  office  door  for  admission. 

Micky  soon  learned  the  news.  A  great  politician  and 
Wall  Street  magnate  on  the  bull,  or  rising  side,  of 
speculation  had  suddenly  died  during  the  night,  and 
the  market,  in  consequence  of  his  death,  had  collapsed 
and  everything  was  going  to  pieces.  Stocks  had  gone 
down  fifteen  per  cent.,  but  were  rallying,  and  Micky's 
brokers  wanted  instructions  as  to  whether  he  wanted 
to  purchase  at  the  low  prices  and  "  cover  his  shorts." 
But  Micky  hurriedly  gave  orders  to  immediately  sell 
200,000  additional  shares,  and  then  locked  his  door 
and  calmly  watched  the  stock-ticker  as  he  saw  the  mar- 
ket agafn  go  all  to  pieces  and  prices  tumble  in  con- 
fusion. 


PLUNGING.  415 

Down  went  prices  ten  to  fifteen  per  cent,  more ;  then 
Micky  telephoned  to  sell  another  100,000  shares, 
which  knocked  the  market  down  ten  per  cent, 
additional,  at  which  time  the  hour  of  three  o'clock 
arrived,  and  the  Exchange  closed  in  a  whirl  of  excite- 
ment and  confusion,  with  prices  on  Micky's  specula- 
tions twenty-five  per  cent,  down  on  an  average  from 
the  quotations  of  the  evening  before. 

Micky  again  slept  the  sleep  of  the  innocent  while  a 
city  full  of  speculators  hardly  closed  their  eyes,  and 
he  was  promptly  on  hand  the  next  morning,  and  sold 
more  stock,  and  again  smashed  the  market  down  fifteen 
per  cent,  more,  and  then  gave  orders  to  buy  half  a  mil- 
lion shares,  which  rallied  everything,  in  the  midst  of 
which  he  again  sold  300,000  shares,  and  the  market 
again  closed  for  the  day  in  feverish  excitement. 

On  the  third  day  he  rallied  the  market  by  buy- 
ing 600,000  shares,  which  brought  the  price  up 
thirty  per  cent,  from  their  lowest  point,  and  on  the 
fourth  day  he  closed  out  his  entire  speculation  with  a 
profit  of  $34,000,000,  and  no  person  interested  knew 
who  it  was  who  had  broken  and  rallied  the  market. 
He  immediately  bought  actual  delivery  stocks  and 
bonds  for  his  entire  profit,  placed  them  in  the  safe-de- 
posit vaults,  and  gave  notice  to  his  brokers  that  he 
would  now  quit  the  market,  said  "  good-morning,  gen- 
tlemen," and  was  gone. 

Micky  telegraphed  for  Sally  to  come  to  New  York, 
and  then  spent  two  weeks  in  arranging,  counting,  and 
classifying  the  securities,  and  found  he  had  $54,000,- 
ooo  face  value  of  stocks  and  bonds,  with  market  value 
of  $61,000,000.  It  was  all  held  in  the  name  of  Flynn 
&  Schmidt,  and  even  the  tax-gatherers  of  New  York 
City  were  unaware  of  the  existence  of  such  a  firm. 

Micky  introduced  Sally  to  the  safe-deposit  authori- 
ties and  his  banks,  and  gave  her  sole  custody  and  ac- 
cess to  his  private  safes  and  power  of  attorney  to  sign 


4l6  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

checks,  and  then  taking  $10,000,000,  face  value,  in 
United  States  government  bonds,  he  bid  Sally  good- 
by  and  hurriedly  left  for  London. 

He  disappeared  from  Wall  Street  as  unknown  and 
as  quietly  as  he  came,  and  even  his  brokers  knew  noth- 
ing of  his  departure  or  whereabouts,  and  for  two  years 
they  wondered  and  wondered,  and  daily  looked  for  and 
prayed  for  his  reappearance  in  their  office ;  but  as  far  as 
they  were  concerned  he  had  disappeared  from  off  the 
face  of  the  earth ;  and  his  little  hall  bedroom  was  rented 
to  a  laboring  man,  whom  the  landlady  gladly  welcomed 
in  Micky's  place,  for  she  was  now  surer  of  getting  her 
pay  more  promptly  than  formerly  from  that  myste- 
rious "  figuring  man,"  who  was  always  scribbling  col- 
umns of  figures  on  every  old  piece  of  paper  he  could 
lay  his  hands  on,  and  daily  leaving  them  in  torn  scraps 
scattered  around  like  snowflakes  upon  her  precious 
floor. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

CRCESUS   PALED. 

MICKY  got  lost  in  the  fog  the  first  day  he  arrived  in 
England.  He  had  heard  of  the  London  fogs  before, 
but  never  believed  they  were  half  as  bad  as  he  found 
them.  He  could  not  count  his  fingers  four  inches 
from  his  nose,  and  consequently  gave  up  any  hope  he 
had  been  nursing  of  repeating  his  New  York  expe- 
rience of  commencing  business  all  in  one  day. 

London  was  slow ;  three  weeks  passed  by  before  he 
was  settled.  His  office  was  across  the  bridge  on 
Tooley  Street,  on  the  second  floor,  back  of  a  dingy  old 
lard  house,  and  his  sleeping-room  was  on  the  attic 
floor  of  a  small  boarding-house  on  Craven  Street,  one 
block  from  Trafalgar  Square.  His  office  cost  £12, 
and  his  room  £10  6s.  4d.  per  year,  which  he  paid  all 
down  for  twelve  months  in  advance,  and  thus  estab- 
lished his  credit  in  small  circles,  otherwise  too  many 
references  were  required;  what  he  wanted  was  ob- 
livion. 

He  rented  a  large  box  in  the  deposit  vaults,  and 
without  exciting  any  comment,  after  several  trips  back 
and  forth  from  his  boarding-house,  he  placed  his 


4l8  THE    KITE    TRUST.  \ 

$10,000,000  government  bonds  in  the  safe.  No  one 
knew  but  himself  of  the  arrival  in  England  of  the 
bonds,  as  he  purposely  brought  them  over  in  an  ordi- 
nary trunk  that  was  unsuspectingly  consigned  to  the 
ship's  hold  with  a  thousand  other  pieces  of  luggage, 
and  it  passed  the  Southampton  custom  officers  with- 
out a  thought  on  their  part  of  examination. 

He  had  a  draft  on  Brown,  Shipley  &  Co.  for  £125,- 
ooo,  and  letters  of  introduction  to  them  from  Messrs. 
Lincoln,  Seward  &  Evarts,  and  also  several  other  let- 
ters from  them  to  the  most  prominent  financial  houses 
of  England,  all  of  which  gave  him  recognition.  He 
opened  a  speculative  account  with  Jones  Brothers,  the 
most  prominent  brokerage  firm  in  England,  and  im- 
mediately established  his  credit  there  by  depositing 
£100,000  as  a  margin  on  a  transaction  requiring  one 
quarter  the  amount,  and  by  the  end  of  the  first  month 
had  made  £4000. 

The  real  object  of  Micky's  arrival  in  England  was 
to  engage  in  the  great  South  African  speculation  that 
was  then  setting  the  whole  of  Great  Britain  crazy. 
Gold  mines  and  the  diamond  fields  were  all  the  rage  in 
speculative  circles. 

One  Barney  Bernato  had  risen  from  poverty  to  the 
possession  of  fifty  million  pounds  sterling,  and  others 
had  followed  in  his  lead  and  attained  lesser  but  fabu- 
lous possessions,  and  with  his  dash  and  nerve  Micky 
in  three  months'  time  had  £1,000,000  to  his  profit  ac- 
count, and  then  went  in  still  deeper  than  any  of  his 
broker's  other  clients. 

Micky  kept  himself  in  the  background  in  the  same 
manner  as  in  New  York,  and  no  one  excepting  his 
brokers  knew  of  his  speculative  existence. 

By  the  end  of  six  months  he  had  startled  his  own 
brokers  by  his  daring,  and  had  aroused  the  curiosity  of 
the  other  brokers  as  to  who  was  Jones  Brothers'  mys- 
terious customer,  and  thev  all  came  to  the  conclusion 


CRfESUS    PALED.  419 

it  must  be  some  wealthy  syndicate.  Micky  never  liked 
the  term  "  syndicate;"  he  said  it  meant  a  body  of  men 
entirely  surrounded  by  "  water." 

There  were  wonderful  fluctuations  that  even  sur- 
prised Micky ;  his  luck  never  left  him,  for  he  had  made 
£7,000,000  by  the  end  of  liis  seventh  month,  and  then 
he  found  that  a  secret  combination  was  being  formed 
against  the  unknown  client  of  Jones  Brothers  to  "  trip 
him  up"  and  "'  down"  him  in  his  bold  ventures. 

It  was  a  giant  fight,  and  never  afterward  in  his  won- 
derful career  did  Mr.  Michael  Flynn  show  such  nerve 
and  cunning.  He  had  ventured  on  shares  to  the 
amount  of  millions  of  pounds  sterling,  and  found  mas- 
ter hands  at  speculation  for  his  invisible  enemies,  and 
he  gradually  saw  his  previous  profits  in  London  of 
$35,000,000  absorbed  in  margins  to  fight  the  combina- 
tion, and  was  making  his  brokers  nervous  when,  to 
the  surprise  and  joy  of  Jones  Brothers,  he  laid  on  their 
counter  the  hidden  $10,000,000  United  States  gov- 
ernments that  he  had  as  yet  never  touched  since  arriv- 
ing in  England.  He  brought  them  to  the  office  just 
in  time.  The  fight  was  a  bitter  one,  and  Jones 
Brothers  assured  Mr.  Flynn  that  he  would  now  be 
successful,  as  his  opponents  were  nearing  the  end  of 
their  rope;  but  again  disappointment  came,  and  more 
margin  was  needed,  as  'that  $10,000,000  governments 
were  being  absorbed,  and  Jones  Brothers  once  more 
lost  their  heads,  for  they  saw  ruin  staring  their  client 
in  the  face  and  disgrace  for  themselves.  Then,  to  their 
surprise,  Micky  deluged  Jones  Brothers  with  almost 
an  avalanche  of  good  cable  draft  acceptances  for 
$40,000,000  on  America,  for  Sally  had  hastened  to 
New  York  by  cabled  advice  from  Micky,  and  bor- 
rowed $40,000,000  on  the  securities  in  the  New  York 
safe  dep,  sit  vaults,  and  with  his  spot  cash  he  broke 
the  combination  and  cleared  £16,000,000.  No  one 
outside  of  Jones  Brothers  knew  exactly  the  extent  of 


420  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

Mr.  Flynn's  profits,  but  thousands  of  speculators  were 
ruined  when  the  bubble  burst,  for  Micky  took  advan- 
tage of  the  great  decline  and  made  £10,000,000  more, 
and  by  the  end  of  the  year  he  had  £32,000,000  in  Lon- 
don in  safe  deposits  and  banks,  even  after  deducting 
the  money  returned  to  Sally  to  New  York  to  make 
her  loans  good  at  the  American  end  of  the  line,  and 
after  returning  to  her  the  $10,000,000  governments  he 
had  brought  from  America. 

Barney  Bernato's  £50,000,000  had  melted  away  as 
suddenly  as  snow  before  a  tropic  sun,  and  England 
never  understood  the  why  and  the  wherefore  of  it,  but 
Micky  and  Jones  Brothers  secretly  knew  where  the 
most  of  it  was  cared  for. 

Micky's  evenings  for  the  entire  year  had  been  spent 
with  a  French  tutor,  from  whom  he  had  passably 
learned  the  French  language,  and  after  closing  up  his 
South  African  speculation  he  as  suddenly  and  as  mys- 
teriously disappeared  from  London  as  twelve  months 
before  he  had  vanished  from  New  York.  The  next 
morning  found  him  in  Paris  opening  a  new  office  and 
finding  another  cheap  boarding-house. 

One  year  was  spent  in  Paris  speculating  in  canal  and 
Algerian  shares  on  a  gigantic  scale,  and  his  evenings 
were  spent  in  studying  German.  The  next  six  months 
he  spent  in  Vienna;  six  months  later  he  was  in  Berlin; 
the  next  six  months  found  him  in  Amsterdam;  six 
months  later  he  was  in  Buenos  Ayres,  South  America, 
at  the  end  of  which  time,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  he  ar- 
rived back  in  New  York  with  $50  in  his  pocket  and 
not  a  single  share  of  stock  with  him,  or  a  bond  of  any 
kind  whatsoever.  But  he  had  left  behind  him  in  the 
safe-deposit  vaults  of  the  various  cities  all  the  money 
he  had  made  in  those  emporiums  as  follows :  London, 
£32,000,000;  Paris,  450,000,000  francs;  Vienna,  160,- 
000,000  crowns;  Berlin,  200,000,000  marks;  Amster- 
dam, 100,000,000  guilders;  and  Buenos  Ayres,  50,- 


CROZSUS    PALED.  421 

000,000  pesos,  which  with  the  $62,000,000  and  its  ac- 
cumulated interest  in  New  York  made  a  total  of  his 
gainings  for  the  firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt  of  $485,000,- 
ooo.  The  uncollected,  earned  dividends  and  interest 
on  his  holdings  abroad  of  about  $35,000,000  made  a 
grand  total  of  over  half  a  'billion  dollars,  and  it  grat- 
ified Micky  beyond  expression  to  know  that  he  could, 
with  deserving,  use  the  word  billion  in  an  authorized 
way  to  now  speak  of  his  firm's  accumulations.  But  to 
be  a  complete  billionaire,  pure  and  simple,  without  the 
necessity  of  prefixing  a  fraction,  was  his  present  but 
modest  ambition. 

It  made  no  difference  what  city  he  dwelt  in,  he  spent 
his  evenings  the  same,  for  everywhere  it  was  a  con- 
stant studying  of  languages,  seeking  statistical  infor- 
mation, and  visiting  the  scenes  of  human  poverty  and 
woe.  He  wras  from  the  poor  himself,  and  had  known  of 
and  witnessed  extreme  poverty,  and  while  he  had  no 
use  for  money  for  his  own  wants,  he  had  only  one 
waking  dream,  which  was  in  some  manner  to  equalize 
the  blessings  to  mankind.  But  up  to  the  present  mo- 
ment it  was  all  for  the  future,  as  he  had  never  been 
known  to  .part  with  over  $i  at  a  time  for  charity. 

It  was  seven  years  since  he  had  left  Cincinnati,  and 
for  the  first  time  he  now  returned  to  talk  matters  over 
with  his  partners,  who  had  mutually  kept  one  another 
posted  regarding  their  commercial  progress. 

Micky  found  the  Cincinnati  end  of  the  line  in  good 
condition  and  worth  $250,000,000,  for  the  Kite  Trust 
was  now  becoming  one  of  the  powers  in  the  land,  and 
was  known  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other. 
Fred,  with  Sally's  assistance  in  New  York  and  Micky's 
directions  from  Europe,  had  been  trading  up  and 
down  on  a  large  scale  in  "  industrials,"  and  on  several 
occasions  had  secretly  bulled  and  beared  the  market, 
ruining  thousands  of  others,  but  enriching  themselves. 
Micky  had  dealt  exclusively  in  railroads  and  mines, 


422  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

while  Fred  at  his  end  of  the  line  had  confined  himself 
to  these  "  industrials." 

The  kite  business  during  Micky's  seven  years'  ab- 
sence had  flourished  beyond  his  brightest  hopes,  and 
the  mania  for  kite-flying  had  increased  until  the  whole 
country  was  kite  mad.  THe  rival  kite  concerns  had 
become  wealthy,  and  competition  began  to  annihilate 
profits  for  them  all,  which  induced  Fred  to  call  a 
meeting  of  all  the  concerns  and  form  a  combination 
which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  great  Kite 
Trust,  with  Fred  as  its  president.  In  less  than  two 
years  Fred,  Micky,  and  Sam  by  their  stock  manipula- 
tions owned  it  all. 

Outside  parties  as  well  as  those  who  had  been  super- 
seded saw  the  success  of  the  Kite  Trust,  and  started 
more  rival  kite  concerns,  all  of  which  were  bought 
out  as  fast  as  organized,  until  the  Kite  Trust  was  tired 
of  such  blackmailing  proceedings  and  adopted  new 
methods,  which  was  the  formation  of  a  new  trust  con- 
trolling the  entire  tissue-paper  industry  of  the  country, 
of  which  Fred  was  president.  This  bound  all  pur- 
chasers to  sell  no  paper  to  any  outsider  for  kite  pur-, 
poses.  Next  the  thread  manufacturers,  with  Fred  as 
their  president,  combined  into  a  Thread  Trust  and  re- 
fused to  supply  thread  to  outside  parties  for  kite 
manufacturing.  Next  was  formed,  with  Fred  as  the 
president,  the  flour-mills  into  the  Flour  Trust,  and  no 
one  but  the  Kite  Trust  could  obtain  flour  for  making 
paste.  Then  followed  the  Grain  Elevator  Trust,  to 
keep  watch  of  all  grain  statistics.  Then  followed  the 
Glue  Trust,  and  last  of  all  the  Lumber  Trust,  and 
finally,  when  no  one  else  but  the  Kite  Trust  could  ob- 
tain tissue-paper,  thread,  paste,  and  kite  sticks,  the 
power  of  the  Kite  Trust  became  supreme,  and  they 
raised  the  price  of  kites  one  cent  a  piece,  and  the  next 
quarter  declared  a  dividend  of  $21,000,000,  and  with 
the  profits  bought  for  cash  the  remaining  interest 


CRCESUS    PALED.  423 

in  all  the  above-mentioned  industrial  combinations 
that  they  had  been  unable  to  shake  into  their  laps 
through  stock  gambling. 

The  entire  formation  of  the  combinations  was  left 
in  the  hands  of  Ed  Webster,  whe  was  the  leading 
spirit  in  its  technicalities.  All  the  corporations  were 
organized  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey, 
as  the  legislature  of  Ohio  was  composed  of  a  foolish, 
thick-headed  set  of  incompetents  who  were  not  far- 
sighted  enough  to  foster  industry  in  a  most  liberal 
manner,  and  thus  they  drove  enterprise  and  capital 
into  other  channels;  whereas  the  legislature  of  New 
Jersey  was  composed  of  men  who  had  a  degree  of 
horse-sense  superior  to  Ohio  man-sense,  and  showed 
in  the  end  to  better  advantage  than  the  wisdom  of 
their  Western  brothers,  for  New  Jersey  had  sprung 
from  almost  the  foot  of  the  ladder  to  be  nearly  at  the 
top  in  manufacturing  industries. 

The  Thread  Trust  now  extended  its  power  and 
took  in  the  rope  and  twine  trades,  and  all  combined 
under  the  name  of  the  Cordage  Trust. 

Micky,  from  New  York  and  London,  inspired  Fred 
in  these  enterprises,  but  the  most  masterly  suggestion 
of  them  all  was  his  advice  for  the  formation  of  a  Boot 
and  Shoe  Trust,  as  more  of  such  articles  of  commerce 
were  now  being  used  in  consequence  of  their  exces- 
sive wear  and  tear  in  running  while  kite-flying.  So 
the  Boot  and  Shoe  Trust  was  started,  and  with  a  grip  of 
steel  held  the  industry  in  its  power;  next  followed  the 
"  Leather  Trust,"  and  next  the  "  Harness"  and  then 
the  extensive  "  Cattle  Trust,"  which  eventuated  in 
the  great  "  Meat"  and  "  Pork  Trusts,"  with  its  sepa- 
rate trusts  of  "  Abattoirs,"  "  Cattle  Yards"  and 
"  Ranches." 

With  the  quarterly  dividends  from  the  kite  and 
other  trusts  Fred  from  time  to  time  bought  the  con- 
trolling interest  (fifty-one  per  cent.)  of  these  new 


4^4  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

trusts,  and  became  president  of  them  all,  and  his  apti- 
tude for  accounts  and  power  of  concentration  enabled 
him  with  the  utmost  ease  to  father  each  and  every  one 
of  them. 

Kites  did  not  cease  to  be  the  rage,  and  it  soon  be- 
came fashionable  to  paper  and  decorate  rooms  with 
hundreds  of  them,  which  resulted  in  the  invention  of 
ten  thousand  varieties  of  shapes,  colors,  and  combina- 
tions, and  a  rivalry  sprung  up  among  older  persons  as 
well  as  children  to  possess  them,  which  fad  supplanted 
the  children's  craze  for  cancelled  postage  stamps  of  the 
various  nations,  and  all  of  this  made  fabulous  quar- 
terly dividends  for  the  Kite  Trust. 

Science  took  up  the  subject,  and  war  kites  were  in- 
vented, and  kites  for  power  purposes  were  brought 
into  play  during  windy  seasons,  especially  around  the 
lower  lakes.  Butter  was  churned  and  small  industries 
driven  by  the  unwinding 'of  cord  reels  as  the  massive 
kites  ascended  beyond  the  unaided  vision. 

The  real  manufacturing  success  of  the  Kite  Trust's 
combination  of  trusts  was  due  to  the  inventive  genius 
of  Sam  Forbes,  who  devised  the  most  wonderful 
machines  in  every  line  of  industry  for  labor  saving, 
which  revolutionized  previous  methods;  and  in  order 
to  control  the  manufacture  of  this  new  machinery, 
Fred  organized  as  one  of  their  ventures  the  Machine- 
Shop  Trust,  which  included  the  entire  plants  in  that 
line  in  the  whole  country. 

It  happened  in  the  year  before  Micky's  return  to 
America — when  the  Kite  Trust  controlled  fifty-one 
per  cent,  or  more  of  the  stock  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty  other  trusts — that  a  combination  of  capitalists 
in  New  York  attempted  to  injure,  in  a  speculative 
movement  on  the  Stock  Exchange,  the  integrity  of 
what  was  known  as  the  Kite  Trust  Industrials.  Ed 
Webster  was  sent  East  to  look  into  the  matter.  He 
found  the  minority  stockholders  were  in  the  conspir- 


CRCESUS    PALED.  425 

acy,  and  that  it  was  a  speculative  fight  among  them- 
selves. 

When  Micky  heard  of  it  through  the  mails  he 
directed  a  speculative  raid  on  all  their  stock  holdings, 
and  sent  forty  million  in  sterling  exchange,  which  with 
the  borrowing  capacity  of  sixty-five  million  securities 
in  the  safe-deposit  vaults  in  New  York,  gave  Sally, 
who  was  intrusted  with  the  battle,  about  $100,000,000 
with  which  to  manoeuvre. 

The  Kite  Trust  itself  was  now  a  close  corporation, 
owned  by  none  other  than  Micky  Flynn,  Fred 
Schmidt,  and  Sam  Forbes,  and  consequently  was  not 
affected,  but  all  the  other  trusts  controlled  by  the  Kite 
Trust  were  listed  on  the  Stock  Exchange,  and  the 
stocks  subject  to  fluctuations. 

Up  and  down  went  the  quotations  of  them  all,  and 
for  eight  months  the  battle  waged  among  the  outside 
stockholders,  and  gradually,  without  the  market 
knowing  it,  Sally  stealthily  day  by  day  fastened  onto 
every  "  short"  sale  that  was  made,  having  a  $100,- 
000,000  back  of  her  for  ammunition,  until  she  held  the 
"  short"  speculators  in  her  power,  as  they  had  oversold 
to  twice  the^amount  in  existence  of  all  those  particular 
stock  shares  of  which  the  Kite  Trust  owned  and  held 
in  their  safes  at  least  fifty-one  per  cent. 

It  was  a  week  of  panic  in  the  stock  market,  the  Ex- 
change was  closed  for  three  days,  and  when  settle- 
ments were  made  Sally  (the  unknown  power  that  had 
won)  gathered  in  on  delivery  day,  as  profit  for  the  Kite 
Trust,  almost  all  of  the  other  forty-nine  per  cent,  of 
the  stock  that  had  been  held  by  the  former  owners  of 
the  various  industries.  Almost  all  of  them  had  origi- 
nally taken  part  cash  and  part  stock  for  their  plants 
when  purchased  by  the  Trust. 

But  Ed  Webster  was  wise  in  his  generation,  for  by 
his  direction  every  former  owner  who  had  genius  for 
his  business  was  employed  in  a  position  to  his  liking 


426  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

with  a  satisfactory  salary,  and  every  former  employe 
was  cared  for  in  some  capacity,  and  not  a  murmur  of 
dissatisfaction  was  heard  from  the  inside  of  all  these 
trusts  controlled  by  the  Kite  Trust.  Tljere  was  pub- 
lic clamor  against  trusts,  but  it  came  from  newspapers 
and  politicians,  and  the  business  on  the  inside  went  on 
calmly  and  serene. 

When  Micky  arrived  in  Cincinnati  a  meeting  of  the 
Kite  Trust  was  immediately  held,  and  Fred  reported 
$250,000,000  the  value  of  their  holdings,  and  Micky 
reported  $550,000,000,  and  said  he  wrould  only  remain 
one  week,  as  he  would  then  start  out  to  play  checkers 
with  the  world's  finances,  and  use  the  largest  cities  of 
the  world  for  squares  on  his  checker  board. 

Mrs.  Flynn  and  Sally  were  still  living  in  the  shanty 
on  the  hill,  and  Fred  and  Sam  had  not  changed  their 
humble  residences,  but  Ed  had  moved  his  dear,  little 
delicate  mother  to  better  and  happier  scenes  on  the 
hills  at  Clifton. 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

TRUSTS. 

THE  subject  of  "  trusts"  was  again  brought  up  for 
discussion  the  week  before  Micky  left  on  his  new  war 
of  conquest.  Ed  was  asked  to  write  and  present  his 
opinion. 

On  the  evening  of  January  ist  Ed  met  the  firm  by 
appointment,  and  presented  the  following  paper,  ac- 
companied by  a  bill  for  services  amounting  to  $25,000, 
which  was  paid  without  a  question : 

OPINION    OF    EDWARD  WEBSTER  ON 
TRUSTS. 

Messrs.  Flynn  &  Schmidt. 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  the  honor  to  herewith  submit 
to  you,  as  requested,  my  opinion  on  the  subject  of 

trusts : 

A.  The  term  "  trust"  as  used  to-day  is  misleading. 
Hundreds  of  great  business  consolidations  are 
called  trusts ;  when,  in  fact,  they  are  simply 
gigantic  Trans-Continental  corporations,  with 
a  perfectly  legal  existence. 


428  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

There  are  not  half  a  dozen  of  the  real  terror- 
izing, objectionable  trusts  in  the  country,  and 
they  will  soon  cease  to  exist,  being  unlawful,  as 
the  trustees  of  the  several  amalgamated  com- 
panies have  transferred  their  trust  or  trustee- 
ship to  other  trustees,  an  act  that  is  not  recog- 
nized, as  no  trust  can  be  delegated.  A  cor- 
porate trust  cannot  be  transferred  unless  pre- 
viously provided  for  by  statute. 

In  the  following  opinion  the  term  "  trust" 
refers  to  the  first-mentioned  or  legalized  gigan- 
tic corporations  that  in  a  proper,  law-abiding 
manner  aim  to  entirely  and  without  competition 
control  one  department  of  business. 

I  will  premise  my  opinion  by  making  the  fol- 
lowing propositions : 

1.  Trusts  are  legal. 

2.  Trusts  are  beneficial  to  labor. 

3.  Trusts  are  beneficial  to  capital. 

4.  Trusts  are  beneficial  to  commerce. 

5.  Trusts  are  beneficial  to  everybody. 

6.  Trusts  have  come  to  stay. 

B.  Formerly   five   hundred   firms    in    our   country 

(averaging  three  partners  to  a  firm)  were  en- 
gaged in  fierce  competition  in  the  same  line  of 
business,  whereas  at  the  present  time  only  one 
great  trust  or  corporation  aims  to  control,  or, 
can  be  arranged  to  control,  an  entire  specialty. 

C.  If  the  business  of  the  whole  world  in  one  branch 

of  business  or  manufacturing  was  under  a 
single  corporation,  without  competition,  then 
all  mankind  would  be  benefited — or  if  in  only 
one  nation,  the  entire  line  of  any  special  kind 
of  business  or  manufacturing  was  under  a  sin- 
gle corporation  (protected  from  foreign  com- 
petition), then  the  entire  people,  individually 


TRUSTS.  '429 

and  collectively,  of  that  particular  nation  would 
be  benefited. 

D.  The  United  States  of  America  has  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  a  Mecca  for  all  who  seek  fortune 
— not  culture.  Millions  abroad  have  heard  of 
our  golconda,  and  have  rushed  hither  to  obtain 
the  prizes.  The  newcomers  find  a  nation  of 
both  rich  and  poor,  alternately  changing  places 
every  twenty,  thirty,  or  fifty  years.  Nothing 
permanent  in  riches  seems  to  exist  with  us  indi- 
vidually. The  wealthy  of  yesterday  are  the 
poor  of  to-day  and  vice-versa.  Looking  down 
from  above  on  the  commercial  scramble,  the 
struggle  for  wealth  must  appear  like  a  great 
boiling  cauldron,  where  the  bubbling,  gurgling, 
rolling  waters  come  gushing  up  to  the  surface 
in  geyser-like  upheavals,  and  then  disappear 
once  more  in  the  mass  from  whence  they  came. 
The  escaping  steam  is  the  passing  away  of  those 
who  reach  the  end  of  life  and  never  return  to 
the  scenes  of  their  scalding  disappointments. 
A  supply  pipe  below  is  ever  adding  to  the  long 
procession  of  the  newcomers  who  wish  to  try 
their  chances  in  the  game  of  wealth.  The  new 
and  awful  wear  and  tear  of  life,  with  its  disap- 
pointments, was  unknown  in  the  fatherland; 
life  was  a  monotone;  now  it  is  a  Wagnerian 
outburst,  and  only  in  heaven  will  the  over-am- 
bitious individual  be  able  to  look  back  and  say  in 
which  of  the  earthly  lands  he  was  the  better  off. 
Statistics  show  that  only  two  men  in  a  hundred 
have  succeeded  in  commerce — that  is,  held  on  to 
their  fortunes  and  died  rich.  Consequently,  if 
in  one  line  of  business  there  was  one  gigantic 
corporation  or  trust  instead  of  the  previously 
mentioned  five  hundred  firms,  with  their  aver- 
age of  three  partners  in  each  firm — or  a  total  of 


0  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

fifteen  hundred  partners — then  in  the  same 
ratio  there  would,  in  a  generation,  be  only 
thirty  men  of  real  business  genius  out  of  those 
fifteen  hundred  partners  who  would  be  success- 
ful ;  which  means  that  by  the  formation  of  all 
the  rival  concerns  into  that  one  particular  gi- 
gantic trust,  the  other  fourteen  hundred  and 
seventy  partners  would  be  prevented  from  fu- 
ture disastrous  failure,  which  would  have  re- 
sulted in  their  finally  entering  bankruptcy. 
E.  Is  it  not  better  that  those  thirty  prosperous  men 
(who  have  proven  that  they  were  born  with 
genius  for  successfully  conducting  business) 
should  direct  the  whole  of  a  national  manufac- 
turing specialty  than  that  the  other  fourteen 
hundred  and  seventy  careless,  extravagant, 
misguided  or  incompetent  partners  should  fail 
and  bring  disaster  upon  themselves  and  fami- 
lies as  well  as  upon  their  thousands  of  em- 
ployes and  their  dependent  families?  The 
misfortune  of  those  fourteen  hundred  and 
seventy  men-of-failure  is  far  reaching.  It  is 
a  calamity;  in  fact,  it  almost  borders  on  the 
criminal.  The  advantage  or  joy  the  fourteen 
hundred  and  seventy  received  for  themselves 
and  families  during  their  rise  to  temporary, 
meteoric,  or  somewhat  prolonged  prosperity, 
was  far  outweighed  by  the  later  misfortune, 
disappointment,  and  sorrow  that  came  to  them 
in  their  final  sad  or  disgraceful  retirement, 
when  they  were  once  more  obliged  to  be 
merged  into  the  vast  throngs  of  employed  or 
idle  humanity  and  again  forced  down  to  their 
inborn  lower  level  of  business  capacity.  If  they 
could  write  an  epitaph  for  their  own  tombstone 
it  would  read :  "  It  is  hard  to  be  poor,  but  hell 
to  be  rich  and  then  poor."  It  is  certainly  better 


TRUSTS.  431 

never  to  have  tasted  of  a  selfish  joy  than  to  in- 
jure others  by  parting  with  it. 

F.  The  world   is   divided   into   two   classes :   First, 

those  who  are  born  with  the  gift  or  genius  to 
work  for  themselves,  and,  secondly,  those  who 
are  adapted  to  work  for  and  be  directed  by 
others.  Those  fourteen  hundred  and  seventy 
men  that  failed  should  never  have  gone  into 
business  for  themselves.  They  were  probably 
adapted  to  be  successful  clerks  or  to  work  in 
some  responsible,  noble,  higher  capacity  under 
the  direction  of  others;  but  they  had  unfor- 
tunate ambitions,  and  those  ambitions  ulti- 
mately brought  misery  to  themselves  and  a  mul- 
titude of  families,  and  helped  in  the  end  to 
create  panics,  with  the  accompanying  bank  fail- 
ures and  general  mercantile  disaster  and  long 
business  depressions.  These  fourteen  hundred 
and  seventy  men,  managed  in  the  end  to  owe 
and  embarrass  their  numerous  creditors  to  the 
extent  of  millions,  and  were  unable  to  pay  50 
cents  on  the  dollar,  thus  helping  to  start  failures 
in  banks  and  in  other  lines  of  trade  beside  their 
own.  It  is  impossible  for  them  or  others  to 
ever  adequately  estimate  the  awful  depths  of 
sorrow  and  disappointment  that  they  have  en- 
tailed on  their  fellowmen,  their  widows,  and 
orphans,  and  descendants  on  into  two  or  three 
generations. 

G.  To  run  the  entire  business  of  a  country  covering 

a  single  trade,  all  under  one  management,  is  like 
running  one  branch  of  the  army  of  a  nation 
under  one  system.  War  will  ultimately  cease, 
and  the  era  of  lasting  peace  will  be  ushered  in 
by  strict  army  organizations  in  all  departments 
of  trade.  There  will  be  a  head  or  directing 
power,  with  successive  chiefs  on  a  descending 


^  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

scale,  all  seeing  that  every  member  of  the  or- 
ganization from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  has 
his  assigned  duties,  all  having  the  opportunity 
to  rise,  if  it  is  born  in  them  to  command,  and  all 
having  their  profit  or  salary  in  proportion  to 
the  position  they  attain  by  merit,  education,  or 
ability.  As  oil  oozes  out  of  and  rises  to  the 
surface  from  the  bottom  of  a  lake,  so  the 
younger  men  of  genius  will  rise  from  the  ranks 
of  "  trust"  employes  to  the  upper  positions  of 
command. 

H.  The  causes  of  the  failures  of  the  fourteen  hun- 
dred and  seventy  partners  belonging  to  the  four 
hundred  and  ninety,  out  of  the  five  hundred 
firms,  were  many.  Overproduction  was  one 
great  factor.  Unaware  of  what  volume  each 
of  their  competitors  was  manufacturing,  the 
original  five  hundred  opposing  firms  probably 
turned  out  in  the  aggregate  twice  or  three  times 
sufficient  wares  to  supply  the  demand ;  they 
overproduced;  they  made,  for  instance,  shoes 
for  three  hundred  million  instead  of  seventy-five 
million  people;  they  flooded  the  country  with 
shoes,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  still  had  on 
hand  an  almost  unlimited  supply  that  they 
could  not  dispose  of.  Their  city  and  country 
customers  had  been  induced  to  buy  more  than 
they  could  sell,  and  in  the  end  could  not  pay  for 
all  of  their  purchases,  as  they  had  not  sold  all 
their  stock ;  their  inability  to  pay  in  full  reacted 
on  the  bank  account  of  the  overproducing  manu- 
facturers, causing  in  the  end  their  financial  ruin. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  a  trust  had  controlled 
the  entire  business  of  the  country,  it  could  have 
manufactured  discreetly,  as  it  would  have  care- 
fully anticipated  and  kept  exact  pace  with  the 


TRUSTS.  433 

national  demand,  and  no  failures  from  overpro- 
duction would  have  ensued. 

I.  There  is  a  legislative  body  that  can  be  compelled, 
by  the  vote  of  the  people,  to  pass  laws  to  control 
trusts  in  the  interests  of  mankind,  and  not  al- 
together for  the  selfishness  of  stockholders  and 
officers.  The  legislature  can,  if  it  wills,  pass 
laws  to  limit  salaries  of  officers,  and  also  pass 
laws  that  the  amount  of  dividends  be  not  above 
a  legalized  percentage.  It  can  order  that  all 
the  excessive  profit  go  to  the  betterment  of  the 
plant,  for  the  formation  of  a  surplus  fund  for 
increasing  the  business.  Congress  can  declare 
in  the  national  constitution  that  only  an  indi- 
vidual can  be  a  citizen  of  a  State;  that  a  part- 
nership, association,  or  trust  cannot  claim  State 
citizenship,  but  must  only  exist  under  national 
legislation,  thereby  becoming  amenable  to  uni- 
form business  laws  of  the  whole  country.  There 
should  be  no  State  statutes  as  to  business  asso- 
ciations; it  should  be  all  a  matter  of  national 
supervision  under  the  interstate  commerce 
clause  of  the  constitution.  National  legislation 
can  direct  that  excessive  profits  of  trusts  or  cor- 
porations or  firms  shall  go  to  increasing  salaries 
and  wages,  so  that  every  one,  from  the  president 
to  the  youngest  laborer,  can  participate  in  the 
general  prosperity ;  that  a  certain  amount  of 
the  profits  can  be  placed  in  a  fund  for  support- 
ing the  employers  and  employes  during  un- 
looked-for accidents,  such  as  from  fire,  the  ele- 
ments, shut-downs,  failure  of  crops,  or  other 
unforeseen  causes.  It  can  arrange  for  pensions 
out  of  the  surplus  and  care  for  every  employe  in 
declining  years.  The  rate  of  profit  to  meet  all 
these  conditions  can  be  adjusted  year  by  year. 


434  THE  KITE  TRUST. 

J.  The  formation  of  all  business  into  trusts  would 
eventually  do  away  with  alternate  waves  of 
prosperity  and  depression,  as  it  would  give 
permanence  or  stability  to  commerce,  and  the 
many  causes  for  failure  would  gradually  be  en- 
tirely eliminated. 

K.  The  second  important  cause  for  the  many  fail- 
ures in  business  is  the  credit  system.  At  the 
present  time  there  is  so  much  competition  for 
business  that  salesmen  (inorder  to  keep  up  their 
reputation  as  successful  drummers)  sell  goods 
without  extreme  care,  and  the  credit  partners  of 
the  many  firms  are  generally  so  selfishly  anx- 
ious for  all  business  in  sight,  that  they  also  take 
undue  risks  and  ship  goods  on  credit  to  what 
eventually  proves  to  be  sinking  or  fraudulent 
firms.  This  competition  for  selling  goods  is 
taken  advantage  of  by  dishonest  firms  with  ex- 
travagant-living partners,  or  who  possess  other 
unbusinesslike  methods,  and  who,  as  a  firm  ob- 
tain credit  from  new  manufacturers  while  still 
owing  the  old  ones  who  will  trust  them  no  fur- 
ther, and  in  the  end  they  thus  become  indebted 
to  a  score  or  a  hundred  houses  at  one  time. 

On  the  contrary,  if  one  trust  controlled  the 
business  of  the  country,  then  this  "  selling  on 
credit"  cause,  that  helps  to  create  failures  and 
panics,  would  be  gradually  removed,  as  the 
financial  or  credit  department  of  the  trust 
would  not  be  imposed  upon  or  swindled  by  dis- 
honest or  weak  firms,  as  there  would  be  no 
fierce,  fighting  competition  all  over  the  country 
for  the  various  customers'  trade.  There  would 
be  only  one  great  business  house  in  that  line 
with  which  to  deal — one  great  corporation 
which  would  refer  all  sales  in  certain  cities, 
States,  or  districts  to  their  one  and  only  one  rep- 


TRUSTS.  435 

resentative  branch-house  in  that  particular  loca- 
tion. 

L.  The  third  cause  for  failure  is  the  extravagant 
living  and  family  expenses  of  men  of  business. 
If  in  those  four  hundred  and  ninety  unsuccess- 
ful firms,  their  fourteen  hundred  and  seventy 
partners  are  or  have  been  living  extravagantly, 
is  it  not  better  for  the  country  at  large,  namely, 
the  people  who  buy  the  goods  (if  legis- 
lation limited  the  salaries  and  dividends  of 
trusts),  if  only  thirty  men  of  genius  directed 
the  same  entire  volume  of  business?  The  vast 
extravagance  of  the  families  of  the  fourteen 
hundred  and  seventy  useless  partners  would  be 
prevented,  the  money  they  unnecessarily  spend 
would  be  saved  to  the  purchasers  and  lessen  the 
burden  on  the  consumer  to  the  extent  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars  annually.  Goods  could  be  thus 
sold  cheaper  to  the  general  public.  By  eliminat- 
ing these  useless  fourteen  hundred  and  seventy 
unsuccessful  panic-making  partners,  it  would 
make  more  equality  in  human  living  and  hasten 
onward  the  real  era  of  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
The  worthy  ones  of  these  fourteen  hundred 
and  seventy  partners,  with  their  ambitions  and 
talent,  would  find  promotion  and  prominent 
places  in  the  vast  army  of  employes  of  that  par- 
ticular great  trust  to  which  they  had  devoted 
their  time  and  attention,  and  they  would  in  their 
new  positions  find  that  they  were  born  with 
talent  that  is  at  its  best  when  under  the  direc- 
tion of  higher  genius  than  they  possess. 

M.  By  transferring  all  the  business  of  five  hundred 
wholesale  firms  engaged  in  one  line  of  manu- 
facture to  one  giant  corporation  or  trust,  the 
many  useless  expenses  that  can  be  saved  can 
(if  statutes  are  provided  for  it)  be  directed  to 


436  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

lowering  the  price  to  retail  buyers,  thus  bene- 
fiting mankind.  One  of  the  principal  items  is 
that  of  rent,  as  in  all  probability  fifty  factories 
can  do  the  business  of  the  former  five  hundred, 
and  the  investment  in  future  building  would 
be  obviated  and  the  money  directed  to  other 
purposes  more  needed  for  human  necessities, 
while  the  surplus  factories  could  be  changed 
into  more  commodious  and  comfortable  homes 
for  working  people,  giving  them  a  chance  to  live 
in  rooms  that  have  adequate  breathing  space, 
instead  of  the  cramped  premises  so  often  seen 
to-day. 

N.  By  forming  the  five  hundred  firms  into  one  trust, 
there  will  be  no  lessening  of  the  number  of  the 
world's  laborers  in  producing  the  raw  material 
used  in  a  century,  and  consequently  none  in  the 
department  of  transportation,  and  none  in 
the  actual  manufacturing  by  former  methods; 
as  with  the  same  machinery  it  required  just  so 
many  hours'  time  to  produce  so  many  goods; 
but  it  will  result  in  the  discharging  of  super- 
fluous workmen,  bookkeepers,  watchmen,  sales- 
men, and  clerks. 

O.  On  the  formation  of  a  trust  the  natural  question 
will  be  asked,  What  is  to  become  of  those  sur- 
plus, unnecessary  workmen  to  be  discharged, 
also  the  bookkeepers,  clerks,  and  others  ?  It  is 
a  question  of  the  greatest  moment.  If  the  ten- 
dency of  the  age  is  to  lessen  to  the  retail  buyer 
the  prices  of  necessaries,  then  some  of  the  old 
employes  may  have  to  suffer  for  the  good  of 
all.  These  are  days  of  wonderful  progress. 
We  are  entering  a  new  era  of  business.  New 
methods  are  staring  the  old  merchants  and 
manufacturers  in  the  face,  and  they  are  as  much 
astonished  at  the  changes  as  are  the  non-think- 


TRUSTS.  437 

ers,  for  new  problems  have  come  into  the  com- 
petition between  individuals  and  nations,  and 
in  these  changes  some  persons  will  be  compelled 
to  take  back  seats.  If  there  are  no  other  em- 
ployments to  be  obtained  for  the  unfortunate 
ones,  then  those  discharged  persons  must  put 
themselves  on  an  equality  with  all  the  rest  of 
the  unemployed  humanity  and  shift  for  them- 
selves until  they  are  adjusted  in  the  strife  for 
existence.  There  is  always  room  for  a  man 
somewhere,  and  if  nothing  else  presents  itself, 
he  can  become  a  farm-hand  or  a  farmer  and  go 
back  to  the  country  districts,  to  take  the  places 
of  those  who  are  continually  leaving.  No  tem- 
perate man  who  wants  something  to  eat  need 
die  of  starvation  in  the  midst  of  the  present 
civilization.  This  going  back  to  the  farm  is  a 
most  important  question  to  settle..  It  is  very 
easy  to  adjust  if  people  would  only  smother 
their  pride  and  be  half-way  sensible.  For  in- 
stance, it  has  been  a  fact  that  for  many  years 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  country  boys  have 
left  their  farm  homes  and  rushed  into  the  cities 
to  find  what  they  supposed  would  be  fame  and 
fortune.  Only  a  few,  a  very  few,  have  had  their 
ambitions  gratified.  When  the  hopes  or  occu- 
pations of  the  disappointed  ones  have  fled,  they 
tramp  around  the  city  hunting  for  new  fields  of 
employment,  and  evening  after  evening,  after 
returning  from  their  unsuccessful  hunt,  they  sit 
sulking  at  home,  condemning  the  laws  that  per- 
mit emigrants  to  come  into  our  country  and 
overcrowd  the  centres  of  trade,  thus  making 
more  mouths  to  feed  and  less  chance  for  the  old 
citizens  to  obtain  a  living.  They  seem  to  forget 
that  their  own  case  is  similar  in  principle,  for 
did  they  not — they  or  their  parents — come  from 


43^  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

their  rural  life  into  the  city  and  crowd  out  some 
one  else  who  was  to  the  city  born  who  was  also 
looking  for  a  clerkship  or  employment  of  the 
same  kind?  These  boys  from  the  country  had 
an  equal  right  and  chance  with  the  others,  but 
now  they  have  found  that  many  of  their  fellow- 
clerks  had  superior  ability  and  were  chosen  to 
remain  and  carry  on  the  business  while  they 
have  been  discharged.  It  is  the  old  story  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest,  and  a  very  large  ma- 
jority have  fallen  by  the  wayside.  Now,  if  this 
very  large  majority  were  sensible,  they  would, 
like  the  prodigal,  go  back  to  their  father's  home 
and  ask  for  the  use  of  a  corner  of  the  old  farm 
and  resume  once  more  their  former  business  of 
farming.  But  no,  they  are  too  proud  for  that; 
they  choose  to  remain  with  their  families  in  ob- 
scurity, poverty,  and  debt,  preferring  an  attic  in 
the  overcrowded  city  to  an  open  life  of  com- 
parative rural  independence,  and  are  thus  doing 
no  good  for  themselves  and  are  hurting  others 
who  are  more  favored  with  ability.  A  poor 
farmer  has  more  of  life's  peace  and  comforts 
than  do  some  rich  men  in  the  city.  The  poor 
farmer  has  a  cow  and  fresh  milk  and  eggs  and 
butter,  a  horse  and  carriage  and  wagon,  fresh 
vegetables,  all  the  poultry  he  can  care  for,  and 
fewer  doctor  bills;  while  a  well-to-do  farmer 
has  more  of  life's  real  comforts  than  a  million- 
aire does  in  the  city.  There  is  room  and  work 
for  everybody  on  this  earth  if  they  are  not  too 
stubbornly  ambitious  or  proud. 

Horace  Greeley's  "Go  West,  young  man," 
has  built  up  a  vast  western  empire,  peopled  by 
those. who  took  his  advice.  Trusts  will  benefit 
those  who  are  fittest  and  are  chosen  to  remain ; 


TRUSTS. 


439 


and  good  sense  with  peace  of  mind  will  come  to 
reward  those  who  choose  to  acknowledge  that 
they  are  born  and  live  in  a  lower  plane  of  abil- 
ity than  the  more  successful  others,  and,  seeing 
this,  move  with  their  families  back  to  the  farm 
from  whence  they  came.  This  is  not  casting 
any  reflection  on  the  business  ability  of  scientific 
up-to-date  farmers. 

P.  There  is  a  great  cry  made  by  anarchists  against 
the  rich  for  their  extravagance,  but  it  is  the  ex- 
travagance of  the  poor  man  in  his  demand  for 
useless  luxuries  that  causes  nine-tenths  of  the 
poverty  that  comes  to  his  family  and  himself. 
A  beggar  on  the  street  who  asks  for  money  for 
a  starving  family  will  always  manage  in  some 
way  to  first  find  enough  money  to  buy  for  him- 
self smoking  or  chewing  tobacco  and  "  four 
beers  a  day."  These  are  not  necessities  to  life; 
millions  of  human  beings  never  have  them ;  they 
are  the  luxuries  of  the  poor,  yet  the  poor  beggar 
and  anarchists  are  forever  berating  the  rich  and 
the  prosperous  for  indulging  in  their  especial 
luxuries. 

Beggars  and  agitators  who  talk  that  way  are 
not  fit  to  live  on  the  earth,  and  their  families  and 
the  whole  world  would  be  better  off  if  the  lazy 
prevaricators  would  starve  to  death  and  be  bur- 
ied in  Potter's  Field.  They  claim  they  have  noth- 
ing to  eat  for  themselves  and  families.  They 
are  nothing  but  useless,  miserable,  rascally  de- 
ceivers. If  they  haven't,  as  they  say,  anything 
to  eat,  they  always  manage,  as  said  before,  to 
get  money  enough  to  buy  four  glasses  of  beer 
per  day,  and  the  price  of  four  beers  per  day  for 
a  year  would  buy  for  their  family  at  the  gro- 
cery the  following  things  to  eat : 


440  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

i  barrel  of  flour,      100  bars  of  soap. 
10  pounds  of  coffee,    10  pounds  of  macaroni, 
10  pounds  of  rice,      20  pounds  of  cornstarch, 
10  bunches  of  celery,    4  twelve-pound  hams, 
10  pounds  of  prunes,   I  bushel  sweet  potatoes, 
10  pounds  of  raisins,    3  bushels  Irish  potatoes, 

4  dozen  oranges,         5  twelve-pound  turkeys, 
50  pounds  of  sugar,   20  pounds  of  crackers, 
10  quarts  of  beans,       5  quarts  of  cranberries. 
25  good  beefsteaks, 

But  this  is  not  all ;  there  would  be  in  one  pocket 
of  the  workingman's  trousers  a  ten-dollar  bill 
marked  "  a  new  dress  for  wife  or  mother,''  and 
in  another  pocket  a  five-dollar  bill  marked  "  to 
buy  shoes  for  the  children." 

Before  humanity  can  settle  down  to  the  en- 
joyment of  the  coming  Brotherhood  of  Man, 
they  will  have  to  down  the  saloon  octopus  that 
grasps  at  even  the  coppers  covering  the  eyes  of 
a  starved,  emaciated  corpse.  The  longed-for 
day  of  human  equality  will  never  come  until  the 
wives  of  workingmen  can  be  made  to  see  (the 
men  will  never  see  it)  that  it  is  the  saloon,  the 
liquor  dealer,  who  is  cheating  them  and  the 
children  out  of  the  blessings  of  a  home,  a  full 
stomach,  and  an  education. 

It  is  frightful  to  contemplate  that  $3,000,- 
000,000  per  annum  is  spent  in  the  United  States 
for  tobacco  and  drink.  Think  of  it!  more  than 
twice  the  national  debt  every  year.  If  that  vast 
wasted  sum  were  saved  for  ten  years,  it  would 
give  half  an  acre  of  land  and  a  separate,  neat 
furnished  home  to  every  laboring  family  in 
America. 

The  one  trust  that  must  eventually  be  swept 
off  the  face  of  the  earth  is  this  First-Lieutenant- 


TRUSTS.  441 

of-Hell-Saloon  Trust,  that  grasps  at  all  the 
money  a  man  has  left  at  the  end  of  the  week  to 
swell  the  bank  account  of  the  saloon-keeper  and 
his  politician  backers. 

A  merchant  works  a  whole  year,  and  at  the 
end  of  that  time  squares  up  his  books  to  see 
what  he  has  made,  and  he  then  knows  his  profit, 
if  any,  for  the  twelve  months'  business.  A  la- 
boring man  at  the  end  of  each  week  does  the 
same,  he  spends  a  certain  sum  for  rent,  much 
less  for  clothing  and  very  much  less  for  eat- 
ables, and  what  is  left  goes  to  the  saloon.  If 
there  is  any  wail  from  the  depths  of  the  heart, 
that  penniless  wives  and  hungry  children  should 
send  up  as  a  national  cry  to  heaven,  it  should 
be  this  one  unanimous  shriek  from  the  soul: 
"  To  hell  with  the  saloons ;"  then  brotherly  love 
in  a  new  era  will  have  a  chance  to  find  its  way 
into  the  haunts  of  humbleness. 

Q.  The  expense  item  of  insurance  can  be  reduced  by 
a  great  corporation  or  trust  carrying  its  own 
insurance — that  is,  to  monthly  set  to  one  side  a 
certain  amount  for  a  fund  to  reimburse  for  fire 
losses.  The  extravagant  management  of  great 
fire  insurance  companies  will  not  thus  be  catered 
to.  It  will  be  saved,  as  also  many  items  in  the 
same  category. 

R.  The  expense  item  of  interest  can  be  entirely 
saved,  as  the  trust  should  be  organized  with 
sufficient  capital  and  eventually  hold  a  vast  sur- 
plus of  an  amount  equal  to  carrying  all  its  trans- 
actions without  resorting  to  borrowing  money. 
It  should  assume  to  be  its  own  banker,  furnish- 
ing its  various  branches  with  its  own  accumu- 
lated funds. 

Any  man,  with  his  family,  ought  to  be  proud 
to  be  an  employe  of  such  a  great  corporation 


442  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

that  will  pension  them  in  their  old  age,  if  a  pen- 
sion is  necessary.  Does  the  widow  of  a  gen- 
eral of  the  highest  degree  object  to  a  pension? 
Does  she  not  still  hold  a  high  social  position  ? 
S.  Another  great  cause  of  failure  is  competition.  It 
formerly  went  for  a  wise  saying  that  com- 
petition was  the  life  or  soul  of  trade;  that  is 
now  a  thing  of  the  dead  past.  Competition  in 
this  business  era  is  the  soul  of  rascality.  The 
pious  merchant  is  home  at  night-time  writing 
out  his  checks  to  send  to  the  societies  for  the 
suppression  of  vice,  while  at  the  very  same  hour 
his  salesmen,  who  help  make  his  money,  are  in 
those  haunts  of  sin  catering  to  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  would-be  customers  of  to-morrow. 

In  the  selling  of  goods  to-day,  if  the  deliber- 
ate lying  that  is  indulged  in  for  one  single  week 
could  be  turned  into  liquid  air,  it  would  be  pow- 
erful enough  to  move  the  machinery  of  the 
world.  If  it  were  water,  then  in  one  year  it 
would  be  vast  and  deep  enough  to  drown  a  city. 

The  cutting  of  prices  and  underselling  of  a 
neighbor  or  rival  has  grown  to  such  propor- 
tions that  when  the  year  comes  around  the  un- 
scrupulous, in  order  to  make  both  ends  meet, 
has  to  fail  in  business  or  resort  to  some  kind  of 
trickery  or  to  borrow  money  by  hook  or  crook, 
and  then  rob  Peter  to  pay  Paul  or  else  scheme 
on  an  unsuspecting  man  or  widow  and  sink  this 
newly  added  money  in  bolstering  up  his  busi- 
ness for  another  year.  Or  he  risks  this  bor- 
rowed money  in  speculation  to  replete  his  cof- 
fers, and  in  such  doing  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
finds  himself  a  disgraced  bankrupt. 

Competition  has  forced  men  into  trusts  to  rid 
itself  of  its  own  destructive  aggressiveness. 
Competition  has  brought  its  own  remedy,  which 


TRUSTS.  443 

is  its  own  annihilation,  but  in  its  annihilation  it 
has  produced  out  of  itself  a  mountain  of  human 
selfishness,  and  a  few  men  at  the  heads  of  trusts 
are  attempting  to  dragnet  the  whole  country 
for  ducats  for  their  own  private  safe-deposit 
vaults. 

T.  Gentlemen  of  the  Kite  Trust,  a  few  words  for 
your  own  future  guidance. 

Over  a  hundred  years  ago  a  band  of  sterling 
patriots  assembled  in  the  town-hall  of  Phila- 
delphia and  wrote  a  document,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  an  extract : 

"  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident : 
That  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are 
endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalien- 
able rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  It  is  the  last 
clause,  "  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  that  the 
heads  of  trusts  of  to-day  are  arrogating  entirely 
to  themselves  in  a  most  selfish  manner. 

Gentlemen  of  other  trusts  of  the  United 
States,  remember  that  there  are  others  beneath 
you  in  your  employ  who  are  not  receiving  their 
humbler  share  of  profits  that  should  bring  to 
them  a  higher  realization  of  the  happiness  that 
that  sacred  clause  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  intended  to  convey,  and  I  write 
to  you,  to  beware ! 

Another  extract  is  as  follows : 

"  That  to  secure  these  rights,  governments 
are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed;  that 
whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes  de- 
structive of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the 
people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a 
new  government,  laying  its  foundations  on  such 
principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such 


444  THE  KITE  TRUST. 

form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect 
their  safety  and  happiness." 

Gentlemen  of  the  numerous  trusts,  there  have 
been,  as  stated,  only  about  two  men  in  a  hun- 
dred successful  in  business.  There  are  millions 
of  others  who  are  entitled  to  happiness;  and 
happiness  in  this  age  to  most  men  means  a  share 
in  the  funds.  Are  you  keeping  the  loaf  and 
giving  only  one  crumb  to  your  neighbor,  or 
are  you  keeping  a  fair  slice,  and  lifting  up 
humanity  with  the  remainder? 

U.  Every  department  of  business,  manufacturing, 
farming,  and  mining  should  be  organized  into 
trusts.  Professions  should  be  organized  into 
trusts.  There  are  too  many  doctors,  lawyers, 
and  professors  in  every  department  of  human 
activity,  and  they  should  be  controlled  by  trusts, 
and  every  separate  organization  should  discuss 
its  budget  as  does  the  general  government  for 
the  coming  year,  and  arrange  percentage  of  in- 
come, or  profits  on  goods  to  be  sold,  to  net  suf- 
ficient for  the  needs  of  all  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  according  to  the  ability  and  position  at- 
tained through  a  system  of  promotion  graded 
by  genius  and  ability. 

V.  Gentlemen  of  the  Kite  Trust !  If  such  a  plan  of 
equality  is  not  devised  by  the  men  at  present  in 
command,  then  the  time  will  come  when  the 
other  ninety-eight  per  cent,  of  the  nation  will 
take  the  leadership  of  government  into  their 
own  hands.  They  may  bungle  the  undertaking 
in  a  most  disastrous  manner,  but  it  is  more 
likely  that  another-  band  of  sterling  patriots  will 
be  called  of  God  to  bring  right  out  of  wrong, 
in  as  brilliant  a  manner  as  did  John  Carroll  of 
Carrollton  and  his  associates  in  the  days  of 
King  George  III. 


TRUSTS. 


445 


W.  It  would  take  a  few  years  to  adjust  the  many 
departments  of  human  livelihood  so  that  all 
would  be  employed,  and  every  one  should  and 
would  be  employed ;  and  immigration  should  be 
restricted  to  the  extent  of  not  allowing  entry  to 
workmen  from  abroad  until  they  could  be  grad- 
ually utilized  in  the  growing  national  indus- 
tries. 

X.  Commerce  would  then  be  one  of  the  bureaus  or 
secretaryships  of  the  general  government.  Let 
us  hope  it  will  take  the  place  of  the  department 
of  War,  and  that  the  Navy  Department  may 
ever  be  continued  as  the  department  of  Mer- 
cantile Marine. 

Y.  As  workmen  have  a  right  to  form  unions  to  look 
after  their  own  interests,  so  also  have  employers 
an  equal  privilege  to  meet  in  conclave  for  mu- 
tual protection. 

There  are  some  mean  employers  who  seem  to 
have  no  thought  of  fairness  toward  those  de- 
pendent upon  them,  but  they  are  the  exceptions. 
The  vast  majority  of  principals  are  men  who 
have  a  kindly  thought  for  those  beneath  them, 
and  while  the  clerks  and  laborers  are  resting  or 
enjoying  themselves  after  a  hard  day's  work, 
many  of  their  employers  are  worrying  until 
late  hours,  and  probably  are  having  sleepless 
nights,  in  order  to  raise  money  enough  for  the 
weekly  payroll.  Many  a  rich  man  who  has 
thousands  of  human  beings  dependent  upon 
him  has  seen  hours  of  perplexity  when  he  would 
most  gladly  have  exchanged  places  with  his 
humblest  employe,  if  he  could  only  have  been 
freed  from  the  strain  that  was  making  life  not 
worth  living,  and  many  an  employer  would  have 
given  up  the  ship  if  it  were  not  for  the  thought 
of  the  sorrow  that  would  come  to  thousands. 


446  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

This  thought  spurred  him  on  to  a  renewed  ef- 
fort for  success. 

Capital  and  labor  will  never  be  at  peaceful 
rest  as  long  as  "  unions"  will  have  for  their  of- 
ficers and  walking  delegates  men  who  have  had 
no  experience  as  employers,  and  who  know 
nothing  of  what  it  is  to  be  monetarily  responsi- 
ble for  men  working  under  them.  In  every 
union  there  are  men  who  have  been  employers 
and  not  succeeded — and  they  should  be  the  arbi- 
trators in  disputes,  and  not  hot-headed  men  who 
have  no  other  qualification  except  that  they 
seem  born  with  a  gift  for  talking,  and  talking  is 
often  very  cheap,  but  oftener  costs  more  in  the 
end  than  wras  bargained  for.  The  solution  of 
the  whole  problem  is  in  trusts,  where  one  firm 
or  corporation  in  the  entire  country  shall  con- 
trol a  single  line  of  business,  whose  employes 
have  some  say  in  the  matter,  all  being  enfran- 
chised in  the  general  aggregation. 
Z.  A  few  thousand  years  makes  very  little  difference 
as  seen  from  the  standpoint  of  old  Father  Time, 
but  it  makes  every  difference  in  human  affairs. 
Four  thousand  years  ago  it  was  altogether  a 
question  of  men,  to-day  it  is  a  question  of 
money.  Of  old — if  great  public  works  were  to 
be  erected,  such  as  the  pyramids  or  temples  of 
Philae  or  Luxor — it  was  only  a  matter  of  en- 
slaving two  or  three  hundred  thousand  or  a 
million  men,  and  setting  the  women  folk  be- 
longing to  them  to  raising  sheep  and  spinning 
yarn,  and  tilling  the  soil  to  earn  a  living  for 
them  all,  while  the  men  spent  twelve  to  sixteen 
hours  a  day  on  the  public  works.  Labor  thus 
cost  nothing  to  the  kings,  and  time  was  no  ob- 
ject. The  united  muscle  of  ten  thousand  slaves 
would  be  employed  for  two  weeks  to  drag  or 


TRUSTS.  447 

lift  a  mighty  stone  that  ten  men  and  a  five-hun- 
dred horse-power  engine  of  to-day  would 
handle  in  thirty-seven  minutes  and  ten  seconds. 

If  the  Pharaohs  had  attempted  to  cut  the 
Suez  Canal  they  would  have  had  a  million  slaves 
carrying  sand  in  a  million  wooden  pails  for 
two  hundred  years,  but  in  this  age,  with  money 
and  powerful  dredges,  the  work  is  done  by  a 
few  thousand  men  in  less  than  a  decade. 

In  ancient  days  Xerxes  could  take  a  million 
men  and  spend  several  years  in  invading  a  for- 
eign land.  He  would  stop  a  whole  season  and 
spend  it  in  raising  grain  for  his  army  for  the 
immediate  future's  needs.  Each  soldier  could 
partially  manufacture  his  own  implements  of 
battle,  and  fifty  cents  a  month  was  extravagant 
pay  for  a  soldier's  services. 

To-day,  warfare  is  a  costly  pastime;  iron- 
clads have  to  be  built  by  the  hundred,  each  one 
of  which  costs  $3,000,000  to  $5,000,000,  and 
requires  three  to  five  years  to  construct.  An 
up-to-date  cannon  costs  a  quarter  of  a  million, 
and  each  time  it  is  fired  off  it  is  at  an  expense  of 
$1500  to  $2000  or  $3000.  Fleets  of  costly 
steamships  must  be  ready  at  a  moment's  notice 
to  transport  troops  in  a  few  weeks'  time  half 
way  around  the  earth.  Food  and  clothing,  am- 
munition and  supplies;  engines  of  destruction 
and  articles  for  the  suffering;  electrical  appli- 
ances and  various  portable  means  of  transporta- 
tion and  communication;  and  a  thousand  and 
one  things  must  be  ready  on  the  moment, 
which  require  an  aggregation  of  capital  to  pro- 
duce such  as  would  have  been  an  undreamed-of 
problem,  even  for  the  gods  of  the  ancients. 

To-day  it  is  not  a  question  of  muscle,  it  is  one 
of  invention  and  money.  The  galley-slave  is  no 


THE    KITE    TRUST. 

more,  and  muscle  is  concentrated  within  the 
walls  of  an  engine's  cylinders.  The  wonderful 
Roman  roads  are  dwarfed  into  utter  insignifi- 
cance by  the  gigantic  railway  systems  of  to- 
day; thousands  of  millions,  away  up  into  the 
lofty  figures  of  billions  of  dollars,  have  been 
spent  in  their  construction.  An  aggregation  of 
capital  that  produces  all  this  modern  amazement 
is  not  only  enough  to  have  startled  a  Caesar, 
but  it  even  dazes  the  Vanderbilts  and  Roths- 
childs in  this  their  day. 

As  is  this  comparison  of  to-day  with  ancient 
times,  so  also  is  the  contrast  equally  startling 
with  the  commencement  and  ending  of  only  the 
last  fifty  years.  Business  methods  have  been 
entirely  revolutionized  in  that  short  time.  Fifty 
years  ago  a  merchant  controlled  his  own-  busi- 
ness, the  commercial  traveller  was  unknown. 
The  "  drummer"  now  controls  the  trade  of  the 
land  and  has  changed  business  methods,  and 
most  startlingly  added  to  the  cost  of  transacting 
business.  His  exactions  have  been  increasing, 
and  to  him  more  than  to  any  other  cause — in 
the  forcing  of  goods  upon  the  merchant — has 
mercantile  failure  and  disaster  left  its  impress 
on  the  nation.  In  the  new  order  of  things,  in 
the  concentration  of  business  into  gigantic 
trusts, the  "  drummer"  will  have  to  go;  he  must 
soon  take  his  place  in  the  past,  and  all  his  ex- 
travagances and  expenses  incident  to  his  man- 
ner of  distributing  goods  will  be  saved,  and  in 
the  end  it  will  cheapen  the  retail  price.  He  will 
become  a  part  of  a  great  corporation  in  some 
other  capacity,  and  if  he  is  not  up  to  his  old  fel- 
lows in  ability,  he  will  have  to  return  to  the 
farm  from  whence  he  or  his  parents  came. 

When  every  special  line  of  business  is  merged 


TRUSTS.  449 

into  its  own  monopoly,  regulated  by  law,  then 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  will  be  in  some 
manner  a  part  of  one  particular  corporation 
and  grow  up  with  it  into  its  intricacies,  and 
have  a  vote  in  its  management.  Statute  laws 
will  regulate  it  and  the  lowliest  will  not  be  ne- 
glected or  have  his  rights  usurped. 

This  is  not  a  vision  or  all  a  dream;  it  is  the 
inevitable,  and  the  sooner  the  present  capitalist 
and  employe  realizes  its  importance  the  sooner 
will  a  new  and  extended  era  of  prosperity 
dawn  on  the  centuries  that  are  coming;  for  if 
any  new  and  better  order  of  existence  is  to  be 
the  boon  of  mankind  it  is  the  new  feature  that 
makes  each  individual  not  only  a  part  of  a 
nation  of  freemen,  but  also  a  participant  with 
a  franchise  in  its  business  ramifications  and 
prosperity.  The  trusts  of  to-day  when  organ- 
ized in  their  completeness  will  prove  the  pana- 
.  cea  for  all  human  discontent. 

So,  in  conclusion:  Gentlemen  of  the  Kite 
Trust,  I  will  emphasize  the  propositions  made 
at  the  commencement  of  the  opinion : 

1.  Trusts  are  legal. 

2.  Trusts  are  beneficial  to  labor. 

3.  Trusts  are  beneficial  to  capital. 

4.  Trusts  are  beneficial  to  commerce. 

5.  Trusts  are  beneficial  to  everybody. 

6.  Trusts  have  come  to  stay. 

EDWARD  WEBSTER, 
With  LINCOLN.  SEWARD  &  EVARTS. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

BILLIONAIRES. 

TIMES  were  ripe  for  the  new  campaign  into  the 
realms  of  finance  that  Micky  had  left  Cincinnati  to  en- 
gage in  for  a  second  venture.  The  subjects  of  free 
trade  and  protection  had  again  become  a  bitter  po- 
litical issue,  and  a  Presidential  election  was  approach- 
ing which  was  demoralizing  in  its  effects  upon  busi- 
ness. The  crops  had  been  the  poorest  on  record.  The 
trade  balance  was  heavily  against  our  country.  The 
gold  reserve  was  almost  down  to  the  limit,  and  was 
being  gradually  drained  from  us  into  foreign  centres, 
while  the  bank  statements  from  week  to  week  were 
growing  worse  and  worse.  In  the  face  of  it  all  the  bull 
stock  speculators  had  been  making  Herculean  efforts 
to  keep  prices  on  the  high  level,  but  were  now  unable 
to  borrow  any  more  money  from  the  banks.  A  de- 
cline meant  ruin,  and  every  one  of  large  capital  was 
involved.  All  it  required  was  a  man  with  ready  cash 
on  a  large  scale,  and  nerve,  to  raid  or  bear  the  market 
and  things  would  go  to  pieces  at  his  command.  Micky 
was  the  prowling  angel  of  terror.  He  had  studied  the 
situation,  and  knew  the  exact  state  of  banking  inter- 
est in  every  financial  centre  of  the  world.  It  is  doubt- 


BILLIONAIRES.  45 1 

ful  if  another  man  lived  who  was  better  informed 
about  it  than  Micky. 

Sally  had  nerve;  she  knew  how  to  keep  her  own 
counsel,  and  could  be  implicitly  trusted.  She  felt  a 
sole  proprietorship  in  the  whole  success  of  Micky  and 
his  partners.  Their  success  was  the  dearest  thing  to 
her  heart.  She  accompanied  Micky  to  New  York,  and 
on  the  way  he  carefully  unfolded  to  her  his  plan  of 
battle.  They  arranged  their  own  cable  code,  and  then 
Micky  left  her  in  New  York,  starting  secretly  by  first 
steamer  for  London,  and  had  been  there  only  three 
days  when  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  was 
thrown  into  a  state  of  excitement  by  an  upheaval  in 
American  securities  in  London.  The  sales  abroad  were 
enormous,  and  for  four  days  the  New  York  market 
staggered  under  the  load  that  was  being  piled  upon  it 
in  the  struggle  of  the  bulls  to  maintain  prices,  as  their 
entire  fortunes  were  at  stake  and  even  obligated  far 
beyond  their  total  volume;  but  on  Friday,  the  fifth 
day,  the  last  straw  was  laid  on  the  camel's  back;  the 
New  York  market  broke,  and  Sally  also  mercilessly 
threw  her  stocks  on  Wall  Street  by  the  million.  The 
great  struggle  was  in  forcing  the  market  down  ten 
points,  and  when  that  was  accomplished  she,  as  well 
as  Micky,  temporarily  retired  from  the  field,  for  things 
went  to  pieces  of  their  own  weight. 

After  the  ball  had  started  rolling  Micky  calmly 
looked  at  the  market  richocheting  downward  of  its 
own  volition,  as  the  frightened  bull-manipulators  were 
in  the  dark  as  to  who  was  unloading.  They  had 
bought  up  and  controlled,  as  they  thought,  every  real 
share  of  speculative  stock  in  sight,  and  when  they 
saw  large  blocks  of  actual  delivery  stocks,  not  fic- 
titious certificates,  flooding  the  market,  both  in  New 
York  and  London  as  well  as  Amsterdam,  they  gave  up 
the  fight,  the  market  took  its  own  course,  more  mar- 
gins were  called  for,  and  the  banks  withdrew  loans. 


452  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

With  five  hundred  and  eighty  important  failures  in 
one  week,  down  went  the  market,  ten,  twenty,  thirty, 
forty,  fifty,  and  as  low  as  sixty  points  before  it  was 
checked  by  large  orders  from  the  unseen  hand  in  for- 
eign cities,  for  when  the  right  moment  came  Micky,  at 
night-time,  alternately  flitted  from  London  to  Paris, 
Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Amsterdam,  buying  and  selling, 
and  selling  and  buying,  and  even  from  far-off  Buenos 
Ayres  "  Argentines"  were  casting  their  gloom  in 
South  America. 

Micky  had  forced  the  market  with  all  his  entire  for- 
tune down  those  first  ten  points  with  actual  stock,  and 
then  went  short  for  additional  millions  of  shares,  and 
then  bought  back  at  the  lower  figures  for  a  rise.  This 
bear  raid  lasted  four  months,  and  the  gold  reserve  in 
America  was  far  below  the  safety  line.  Not  a  busi- 
ness man  went  home  at  night-time  without  forebod- 
ings of  the  morrow. 

On  the  week  preceding  the  Presidential  election, 
when  uncertainty  gave  a  temporary  lull,  like  the  calm 
before  a  storm,  to  the  stock  market,  Micky  quietly 
borrowed  on  collaterals  in  the  five  money  centres  of 
Europe  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  in 
gold,  and  a  week  later,  when  the  Democratic  Party 
was  swept  out  of  power  and  a  Republican  President 
was  elected,  then  the  cables  flashed  over  to  the  morn- 
ing papers  in  America  that  $150,000,000  gold  had 
been  withdrawn  for  shipment  to  New  York,  and,  like 
an  electric  impulse,  it  planted  confidence  once  more 
in  business  circles,  and  a  speculative  boom  set  in  for 
six  months  that  did  not  stop  until  the  old  and  higher 
figures  had  been  reached;  at  which  top  prices  Micky 
again  raided  the  market,  selling  in  one  day  in  New 
York,  London,  Paris,  Amsterdam,  Berlin,  Vienna,  and 
Buenos  Ayres  all  his  holdings.  It  was  done  so  sud- 
denly and  from  such  a  widespread  area  that  the  bull 
interest  everywhere  did  not  know  until  too  late  of  the 


BILLIONAIRES.  453 

volume  of  their  one  day's  purchases,  and  staggered 
under  its  financial  contracts  for  cash  payments  for 
Micky's  spot  cash  stocks,  and  while  it  was  staggering 
Micky  struck  blow  after  blow  from  a  new  direction 
at  each  effort,  and  still  no  one  exactly  knew  who  and 
where  was  the  mysterious  power. 

The  market  went  down  and  up,  again  and  again,  in 
any  direction  where  Micky  touched  his  finger  on  the 
even  balancing  scales;  gold,  $50,000,000  at  a  time,  was 
ordered  backward  and  forward  from  New  York  to 
London  and  Paris,  each  time  affecting  the  financial 
condition,  as  the  market  was  at  such  a  tension  that 
that  amount  of  gold  transfers  alarmingly  affected  its 
equilibrium.  Rich  men  lost  their  all;  it  was  drag- 
netted  into  the  coffers  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt.  Thou- 
sands of  the  middle  classes  sold  or  mortgaged  their 
houses  or  drew  their  lifetime  earned  savings  to  settle 
their  losses,  all  of  which  found  its  way  to  Flynn  & 
Schmidt's  bank  account.  The  poorer  people  who  had 
imbibed  the  stock-gambling  craze  contributed  their 
share  toward  the  final  settlement  of  the  awful  whirl- 
wind of  speculation  that  had  swept  over  the  country. 
It  was  a  startling  sarcasm  on  human  endeavor,  to  con- 
template how  nearly  seventy  million  people  had  been 
working  and  saving  for  ten  years  and  all  of  their  gar- 
nerings  to  be  meekly  turned  over  to  some  one,  who  in 
his  turn  transferred  it  to  another,  and  then  to  another, 
and  finally  reach  an  unseen  maelstrom  that  sucked  it 
into  some  subterranean  place  of  final  deposit — the 
firm  of  Flynn  &  Schmidt,  still  unknown  in  the  finan- 
cial world. 

This  campaign  of  Micky's  had  been  going  on  for 
fifteen  months,  when  suddenly  he  concluded  to  stop, 
and  cabled  to  Sally  to  close  out  all  contracts,  turn  all 
bank  balances  into  securities,  and  withdraw  from  the 
market,  and  he  did  the  same. 

Micky's  cable  bill  had  cost  him  on  an  average  one 


454  THE  KITE  TRUST. 

thousand  dollars  per  day.  He  had  no  clerk,  and  gave 
his  orders  to  his  brokers  personally.  To  write  out  all 
these  messages  to  Sally  in  New  York  and  to  his 
brokers  in  the  various  money  centres,  give  his  per- 
sonal orders,  and  carry  the  transactions  in  his  mind 
was  proof  of  his  extraordinary  make-up.  He  had  a  re- 
markable faculty  for  keeping  books  in  his  head,  and 
knew  to  a  dollar  how  much  he  was  worth  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  minute  by  minute  followed  mentally  its 
values  up  and  down,  and  when  night-time  arrived 
would  compare  the  tally  sheets  of  his  brokers  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  verify  his  own  unwritten  con- 
clusions. 

It  took  two  weeks  for  Sally  at  the  New  York  end 
and  Micky  in  Europe  to  close  up  business,  and  when 
accomplished,  and  securities  all  were  safely  cared  for, 
he  found  a  net  profit  from  the  campaign  of  $880,000,- 
ooo,  which  with  his  $620,000,000  at  commencement  of 
the  battle  made  him  a  full-fledged  billionaire,  and  a 
half  extra,  on  the  strength  of  which  he  raised  the 
price  he  paid  for  a  dinner,  and  for  the  first  time  since 
leaving  Sally  in  New  York  he  extravagantly  ordered 
chops  and  tomato  sauce,  and  for  an  hour  afterward  sat 
in  the  deepest  of  meditation  as  to — what  next? — and 
the  decision  was — home ! 

Micky  left  behind  him  in  the  various  money  centres 
of  Europe  a  total  of  $1,000,000,000  in  securities  and 
cash  in  banks,  and  took  the  balance  with  him  to  swell 
the  New  York  fund,  which  footed  up  half  a  billion. 
Then,  with  Sally,  he  started  for  Cincinnati  to  report  to 
his  partners  and  talk  face  to  face  with  them  of  their 
mutual  progress. 

Micky  was  startled  when  he  saw  Fred,  for  he  was 
only  thirty-two  years  old  and  had  turned  gray.  Un- 
like Micky,  without  a  single  clerk  or  office  boy,  he  had 
eighty  trusts  on  his  hand,  covering  the  entire  United 
States,  with  seven  hundred  thousand  men  on  his  pay- 


BILLIONAIRES.  455 

rolls,  whose  families  made  a  total  of  three  million  souls 
who  were  dependent  for  their  livelihood  on  his  suc- 
cessful efforts,  and  he  felt  deeply  the  responsibility. 
He  was  giving  good  wages  to  every  one,  he  had  no 
competition  in  his  lines  of  business,  he  was  getting  fair 
profits,  lost  nothing  by  bad  debts,  and  was  carrying  his 
own  insurance.  He  had  a  board  of  arbitration  of  his 
own,  which  settled  all  trouble  with  his  workmen;  and 
the  heads  of  departments  and  managers  and  officers 
of  the  various  trusts,  most  of  whom  had  formerly  been 
in  business  for  themselves,  were  receiving  large  sal- 
aries. There  was  not  a  word  of  complaint  from  the  in- 
side. The  troubles  were  all  from  the  outside — poli- 
ticians and  newspapers. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  partners  was  held  on  their 
thirty-second  birthday  in  the  same  old  cellar  under 
Mrs.  Flynn's  shanty  on  the  rocks,  and  was  also  at- 
tended by  Sally  and  their  counsel,  Mr.  Edward  Web- 
ster. The  principal  subject-matter  was  Micky's  sug- 
gestion that  Ed  immediately  start  the  formation  of 
two  newspaper  trusts,  with  their  former  benefactor, 
Mtirat  Halstead,  as  counsellor;  one  to  be  a  combina- 
tion of  all  the  Republican,  and  the  second  to  be  com- 
posed of  the  entire  Democratic,  papers  of  the  land, 
both  to  be  secretly  under  Ed's  direction,  but  to  be  dis- 
tinctive as  to  their  policy  and  politics.  "  For  we  must 
recognize,"  said  Micky,  "  that  the  people  will  ever  dif- 
fer in  opinion,  and  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  run  the 
country  on  a  single  newspaper  standard,  and  by  both 
being  under  one  secret  direction  public  opinion  can  be 
moulded  in  certain  channels  that  will  help  to  bring 
the  nation  together  as  a  unit  on  minor  affairs,  and 
ultimately  on  more  important  matters." 

The  suggestion  was  received  with  unanimous  ap- 
proval, especially  by  Ed,  who  expressed  to  Micky  his 
warmest  admiration  and  approval  of  the  suggestion, 
but  said  it  had  almost  insurmountable  difficulties  to 


456  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

overcome,  but  that  he  would  undertake  the  task,  for 
which  $300,000,000  was  voted  to  be  placed  at  his  dis- 
posal, which  was  to  be  drawn  from  the  foreign  safe- 
deposit  vaults  and  not  from  the  American  end  of  the 
line. 

Fred  reported  the  actual  value  of  the  stocks  of  the 
trusts  he  controlled  at  $650,000,000,  making  a  total 
of  over  two  billions  of  values,  abroad  and  in  America, 
in  possession  of  the  Kite  Trust. 

The  next  subject  for  discussion  was  brought  for- 
ward by  Fred.  He  informed  his  partners  that  he  was 
greatly  hampered  in  his  efforts  to  absorb  the  various 
industries  of  the  country  by  a  rival  syndicate  of  men  of 
giant  talent  and  enterprise,  whose  presiding  genius 
was  a  Mr.  Hoyle,  who  had  been  giving  the  world,  and 
was  still  capable  of  giving,  undisputed  pointers  on 
gambling.  The  company,  named  after  him,  was 
known  as  the  Standard  Hoyle  Company.  Fred 
wanted  assistance  to  "  down"  him  and  his  associates 
and  "  take  in"  their  holdings;  he  said  the  rival  concern 
was  worth  $500,000,000  between  them,  and  controlled 
forty  trusts,  employing  300,000  men,  supporting 
families  of  1,500,000  souls. 

After  Fred  was  through  Micky  asked  if  "  the  new 
combination  were  still  after  more  trusts."  Fred  re- 
plied :  "  Certainly  they  are;  they  want  all  they  can  get." 
A  deep  silence  fell  upon  the  assembly,  which  lasted  for 
five  minutes;  then  Micky  replied:  "  Fred,  leave  them 
alone;  let  them  go  on  and  get  all  the  trusts  they  can; 
it  will  save  you  a  great  deal  of  hard  preliminary  work. 
Let  them  get  all  the  trusts  they  can  absorb,  and  then 
we  will  take  it  all  away  from  them  in  one  lump."  This 
view  of  the  situation  seemed  to  please  Fred;  his  mind 
was  relieved  from  a  great  strain,  and  it  was  decided  to 
follow  Micky's  suggestion. 

Sam  had  nothing  to  suggest,  but  informed  his  part- 
ners that  his  machinery  was  doing  all  he  claimed  for  it. 


BILLIONAIRES.  457 

He  further  informed  them  that  he  had  more  important 
inventions  in  view,  and  especially  one  that  he  would 
not  speak  of  at  the  present  time,  but  which  would 
revolutionize  the  industries  of  the  world,  and  when  he 
was  ready  for  it,  it  would  require  $1,000,000,000  for 
its  utilization.  Micky  asked  him  when  he  would  be 
ready  for  it,  and  receiving  the  reply,  "Three  years," 
said,  "  All  right,  Sam;  we'll  be  ready  for  you  with  the 
cash." 

Sally  was  called  upon  next  as  to  what  she  had  to 
suggest,  and  suddenly  bursting  into  tears,  said  be- 
tween her  sobs  that  there  was  only  one  object  she  had 
in  life  that,  with  their  vast  wealth  at  command,  she 
would  have  ambition  to  see  accomplished;  and  then 
she  almost  dazed  her  hearers  with  a  stream  of  unex- 
pected eloquence  that  must  have  been  inspired.  It 
was  an  appeal  for  the  saving  of  humanity  from  the 
curse  and  snare  of  the  great  and  powerful  Whiskey 
Trust  that  was  ruining  the  youth  and  happiness  of  the 
nation. 

Sally,  unknown  to  her  friends,  for  five  years  had 
been  watching  the  ravages  of  the  saloon  octopus  that 
was  sapping  the  life  out  of  humanity,  and  now  for  half 
an  hour  she  sent  up  a  plea  on  behalf  of  the  mothers 
and  wives  and  sisters  of  the  land  to  put  it  in  the  hearts 
of  her  young  'and  powerful  cornpanions  to  wipe  the 
liquor  traffic  from  off  the  face  of  their  beloved  land. 

When  she  had  finished  therewasnota  dry  eye  in  that 
little  audience.  They  sat  in  silence  for  a  few  minutes, 
which  was  only  broken  when  Micky  arose,  went  over 
to  his  sister,  and  gently  putting  his  arms  around  her 
gave  her  a  tender  kiss  and  said :  "  As  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned it  shall  be  done."  This  was  seconded  by  his 
partners,  and  before  the  meeting  closed  Ed  was  in- 
structed to  gather  statistics  on  the  subject  and  devise 
legal  methods  to  kill  the  traffic. 

Sally's  suggestion  was  cordially  endorsed  by  Micky 


45  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

becauce  he  had  spent  evenings,  for  years,  in  various 
cities  of  the  world  witnessing  the  horrible  work  of 
intemperance. 

At  the  end  of  another  four  years,  on  their  thirty- 
sixth  birthday,  the  same  parties  met  at  the  same  little 
cellar  for  a  conference. 

Micky  reported  $8,000,000,000  as  the  holdings  of 
the  Kite  Trust  in  European  centres  and  $3,000,000,- 
ooo  in  New  York  City. 

Fred  reported  160  trusts  under  his  entire  control, 
with  assets  of  $4,000,000,000,  making  a  grand  total 
of  the  Kite  Trust's  holdings  of  $15,000,000,000.  $6* 

There  had  been  no  recent  panics,  as  the  business  of 
the  country  was  now  entirely  in  the  hands  of  .the 
trusts,  which  were  controlled  by  eight  different  inter- 
ests— the  "  Kite,"  "  Standard  Hoyle,"  "  Liquor," 
"  Transportation,"  "  Farmers,"  "  Real  Estate," 
"  Bankers,"  and  "  Newspaper." 

Into  one  or  another  of  these  great  combinations 
every  department  of  commerce  had  been  merged,  but 
the  "Liquor  Trust"  was  the  most  powerful  of  them  all 
in  its  wide-sweeping  interests.  It  owned  distilleries, 
breweries,  vineyards,  pleasure  parks,  city  railroads, 
200,000  saloons — including  the  buildings  and  ground 
— and  controlled  almost  all  of  the  city  and  town  gov- 
ernments, and  ruled  everything  in  its  interest  with  an 
iron  hand,  and  all  with  a  capital  of  $25,000,000,000. 

The  great  question  before  the  Kite  Trust  was 
which  one  of  the  other  trusts  they  should  absorb  first, 
and  it  was  decided  not  to  absorb  but  immediately  to 
commence  to  wipe  off  the  face  of  the  earth  the  Liquor 
Trust,  and  it  only  took  two  years  to  do  it. 

Micky  proposed  the  plan,  which  was  carried  out  in 
the  minutest  detail. 

The  Liquor  Trust  owned  all  the  street  railways  and 
the  pleasure  parks,  which  were  capitalized  at  $5,000,- 
000,000.  Micky  said :  "  We  do  not  want  them,  they 


BILLIONAIRES.  459 

belong  to  the  people,  and  the  cities  should  own  them 
for  purposes  of  revenue." 

Ed  was  secretly  at  the  head  of  the  newspaper  trust, 
and  an  attack  was  inaugurated  in  the  editorial  depart- 
ment of  every  paper,  both  Republican  and  Demo- 
cratic, in  the  land,  calling  upon  the  citizens  to  own 
their  own  local  railroads  and  their  accompanying 
pleasure  parks.  The  liquor  people  were  astounded, 
resented  the  demand,  and  carried  it  to  the  courts; 
but  the  power  of  the  press  predominated,  and  in  every 
State  its  legislature  gave  the  cities  power  to  buy  the 
street  railways  and  their  accompanying  pleasure 
parks  at  prices  settled  by  a  fair  arbitration,  for  Ed  ad- 
vocated no  anarchistic  methods  of  sequestration,  but 
wanted  everything  honestly  paid  for.  The  next  ques- 
tion was  how  to  pay  for  the  property,  and  long-time 
bonds  were  suggested;  but  Ed,  at  Micky's  suggestion, 
inspired  an  editorial  that  advocated  cash  payments 
within  one  year.  This  was  done;  the  cities  and  towns 
took  possession  of  the  roads,  raised  the  price  of  fares, 
and  a  "  local-pride-wave"  struck  the  whole  land. 
Cities  and  towns  vied  with  one  another  as  to  which 
should  first  own  its  road.  It  became  the  fad  to  ride  in 
the  city  cars.  Parties  and  clubs  would  engage  a  car 
for  a  whole  evening  and  pay  and  repay  fares,  and 
when  a  rival  city  was  doing  better  than  its  neighbor, 
the  patriotic  citizens  would  pay  $i  a  ride  to  help 
swell  the  rising  figures,  that  were  daily  published  in 
the  morning  papers  over  the  whole  land.  Rich  citi- 
zens vied  with  one  another  in  giving  money  to  help 
swell  the  fund,  and  by  the  end  of  one  year  there  was 
not  a  city,  town  or  village  in  the  land  but  owned  its 
own  roads,  and  then  the  fares  were  put  down  to  two 
cents  per  ride.  This  paid  all  expenses  and  brought  a 
vast  income  into  the  city  treasury,  and  the  people 
now  owned  the  entire  street  railway  systems. 

Meantime,  the  newspapers  had  been  gradually  work- 


460  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

ing  up  a  further  sentiment  against  the  Liquor  Trust 
and  its  awful  profits.  The  evils  of  drink  were  daily 
depicted  by  blood-curdling  pictures  and  convincing 
statistics.  The  wives  and  mothers  of  drinking  men 
were  appealed  to  to  write  for  publication,  and  to  name 
the  causes  of  the  crimes  and  the  reasons  of  neglect  of 
their  sons,  husbands,  and  fathers,  and  they  all  pointed 
to  whiskey  and  beer.  This  daily  attack  through  every 
newspaper  in  the  land  had  its  telling  effect,  and  be- 
fore six  months  a  wave  of  indignation  from  the 
poorer  women  of  the  nation  commenced  to  sweep 
over  the  land,  which  culminated  at  the  next  election 
in  the  entire  liquor  power  being  swept  out  of  political 
control,  and  honorable  people  opposed  to  liquor  were 
elected  in  their  place. 

Next  came  the  cry  to  abolish  liquor  itself,  and  so 
thoroughly  had  the  movement  taken  root  in  the 
hearts  of  the  women  and  the  respectable  men  that 
liquor  and  beer  and  coffee,  and  even  tea  (which  the 
liquor  people,  in  their  own  defence,  had  clearly  proven 
was  the  cause  of  almost  as  many  nervous  diseases  as 
whiskey  itself),  and  everything  except  pure  water,  was 
banished  from  society.  The  brewers  quit  business. 
Distilleries  were  shut  down,  and  at  the  end  of  a  year 
every  barrel,  keg,  and  bottle  of  the  former  beverage  of 
the  nation  was  drunk  up  and  paid  for,  and  none  left 
to  gratify  the  dissatisfied.  Thus  not  a  single  anar- 
chistic principle  prevailed,  for  every  one  got  his  pay 
in  every  branch  of  industry  that  the  governments  pre- 
empted. A  few  thousand  useless,  worthless  men  died 
of  delirium  tremens,  but  the  rest  of  American  man- 
hood found  itself  better  off,  physically  and  financially, 
than  ever  before,  and  was  profoundly  thankful  for  the 
new  order  of  things. 

The  newspapers  all  over  the  land  then  advocated 
buying  and  paying  the  proprietors  for  their  brewing 
and  distilling  property,  and  their  magnificent  saloons, 


BILLIONAIRES.  461 

and  the  street  cars  all  over  the  country  that  were 
owned  by  the  cities,  by  order  of  the  councilmen  again 
raised  the  fares,  and  a  rivalry  set  in  as  to  which  sec- 
tion of  the  country  would  contribute  the  largest 
amount  to  repay  their  fellow-citizens  for  the  loss  of 
their  Liquor  Trust  property,  and  in  two  years'  time 
the  saloons,  breweries  and  distilleries  were  all  bought 
and  changed  into  dwellings  for  improving  the  homes 
of  the  laboring  man.  Wherever  the  buildings  and 
grounds  were  situated  they  became  the  property  of 
that  city  or  village,  which  received  such  additional 
revenue  for  its  municipal  expenses. 

The  Whiskey  Trust  was  thus  blotted  out  of  exist- 
ence. The  owners  had  been  paid  in  full  for  their  hold- 
ings— not  the  full  amount  of  their  watered  capital, 
but  a  fair  price  that  public  opinion,  through  the  press, 
had  moved  them  to  willingly  accept.  What  to  do 
with  the  money  was  a  question,  so  Ed  came  to  the 
rescue,  and  through  the  press  created  a  fervor  for 
Sam's  great  and  new  undertaking  in  engineering. 

Sam  unfolded  his  great  invention,  that  was  to  revo- 
lutionize the  industries  of  the  earth.  He  had  dis- 
covered a  new  power  to  move  the  world  of  commerce. 
Great  wells  six  feet  in  diameter  and  ten  miles  deep 
were  to  be  bored,  at  which  depth  was  a  mighty  cen- 
tripetal power  that  for  ages  had  existed  in  tension,  and 
which  when  brought  into  contact  with  a  stratum  of 
electricity  that  followed  the  contour  of  the  earth  two 
thousand  feet  above  the  surface,  could  bring  into  play 
the  forces  of  the  magnetic  auroras,  that  were  caused 
by  and  in  touch  with  the  mighty  playing  of  the -spots 
on  our  distant  sun.  This  stratum  of  electricity,  when 
connected  by  wire  with  the  said-mentioned  latent 
force  beneath  the  surface  (that  was  additionally  acted 
upon  by  the  tremendous  pressure  of  the  ten  miles  deep 
aforementioned  column  of  water),  would  produce  un- 
limited action,  which  could  be  utilized  for  generating 


462  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

power  for  propelling  machinery,  railroads,  lighting 
and  heating,  and  other  unnumbered  uses. 

One  such  well,  with  its  accompanying  over-reach- 
ing gigantic  Eiffel  Tower,  in  combination  with  its  at- 
tached kites  for  aerial  contact  with  higher  auroral 
strata,  would  suffice  for  any  conceived-of  supply  of 
power  for  an  area  of  one  hundred  miles  square,  from 
which  central  point  of  such  area  the  power  could  be 
drawn  to  a  million  localities  within  it  for  unlimited 
horse-power  use. 

The  contract  for  these  wells  and  towers  was  given 
to  the  former  magnates  of  the  Liquor  Trust  for  ex- 
ecution, and  for  their  construction  they  used  their  bil- 
lions of  money  received  from  the  sales  of  their  street 
railways.  One  thousand  such  wells  and  towers  were 
made,  and  the  Kite  Trust  furnished  millions  and 
millions  of  kites  for  the  aerial  purposes,  and  one  of  the 
Kite  Trust's  branches — the  Cordage  Trust — fur- 
nished the  great  supply  of  cord  and  rope  for  reaching 
the  upper  auroral  stratas.  Three  years  were  con- 
sumed in  the  execution  of  this  great  engineering  feat, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  power  for  all  commercial 
uses  cost  comparatively  nothing,  and  then  the  great 
Standard  Hoyle  Company  collapsed  entirely,  as  their 
holdings  were  in  the  now  useless  coal  and  oil  fields, 
and  kindred  industries  that  were  supplanted,  and  the 
Kite  Trust,  in  the  Standard  Hoyle  Company's  mis- 
fortune, bought  their  remaining  holdings  of  miscel- 
laneous corporations  for  $5,000,000,000,  which 
amount  they  received.  Through  public  opinion, 
formed  through  tlie  press,  the  Standard  Hoyle  people 
now  became  public  benefactors,  investing  their  mil- 
lions for  the  benefit  of  the  people  in  buying  up  and 
presenting  to  the  various  municipalities  the  natural 
wonders  of  the  country — converting  them  into  pleas- 
ure resorts  on  gigantic  scales,  and  ending  their  days 
of  genius  in  managing  these  new  parks  in  regal 


BILLIONAIRES.  463 

fashion  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  for  which  they 
received  princely  salaries  and  the  gratitude  of  the 
public  that  formerly  denounced  them. 

The  Whiskey  Trust  and  Standard  Hoyle  Trust 
were  thus  wiped  out  of  existence.  The  people  needed 
less  money  now  than  before,  for  the  best  part  of  their 
old  earnings  in  former  days  had  regularly  gone  for 
drink,  and  what  little  the  poor  had  left  from  week  to 
week  they  had  spent  for  coal  to  keep  them  warm  in 
winter.  But  now  everything  was  changed,  for  the 
wires  from  the  great  Auroral  Wells  brought  them 
light,  heat,  and  .power  for  a  whole  year  for  the  insig- 
nificant sum  that  was  formerly  the  price  of  five 
bushels  of  coal. 

One  branch  of  the  Whiskey  Trust  was  left,  the 
"  Cigar  and  Tobacco  Branch,"  and  through  the  press 
smoking  and  chewing  was  abandoned,  and  thus  an- 
nually a  grand  total  of  $3,000,000,000,  that  had  been 
formerly  wasted  on  whiskey  and  tobacco,  was  saved, 
or  rather  was  not  now  needed  for  such  useless  personal 
expenses. 

The  Kite  Trust  now,  through  its  purchases  from 
the  Standard  Hoyle  Company,  owned  three  hundred 
and  twenty  different  enterprises  and  held  assets  in 
Europe  and  America  of  $35,000,000,000.  It  now 
owned  the  entire  manufacturing  industries  of  the 
United  States. 

There  was  one  powerful  combination  that  exceeded 
it  in  wealth,  which  was  the  "Transportation  Trust," 
better  known  as  the  "  Common  Carriers'  Company," 
that  owned  the  railroads,  steamboats,  steamships,  and 
all  departments  of  trucking,  with  a  capital  of  $50,- 
000,000,000.  The  other  trusts  not  owned  by  the 
Kite  Trust  were  the  "  Farmers,"  "  Banking,"  and 
"  Real  Estate." 

The  Kite  Trust  had  been  obliged  to  take  the  con- 
tract from  off  the  hands  of  the  old  "  Liquor  Trust'' 


464  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

for  finishing1  the  Auroral  Wells,  as  the  "  Liquor 
Trust"  had  become  financially  embarrassed.  All  of 
the  former  Liquor  Trust  magnates  went  into  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Kite  Trust  in  honorable  and  satisfactory 
positions,  and  thus  the  Kite  Trust  now  owned  the 
new  gigantic  "  Power  and  Light"  enterprise,  known 
as  the  "  P.  &  L.,"  that  had  taken  the  place  of  the  coal 
fields,  and  coal-mining  became  extinct. 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

THE   PEOPLE. 

THE  transportation  interests  of  the  United  States 
were  under  the  control  of  the  richest  organization  on 
the  earth.  They  owned  everything  in  sight  that  was 
used  for  conveyance,  excepting  street  railways  and 
private  carriages.  Railroads,  steamboats,  steamships, 
wagons,  trucks,  balloons,  were  all  theirs.  They  had 
not  been  content  with  controlling  only  the  means  of 
conveying  substances,  but  had  monopolized  the  tel- 
egraph— the  means  of  conveying  thought;  the  tel- 
ephones— the  means  of  conveying  sound ;  the  carrying 
of  the  mails — the  means  of  conveying  intelligence; 
and  the  altru-speed — the  means  of  conveying  sight. 

The  magnates  of  the  great  Transportation  Trust 
were  constantly  at  war  with  their  employes,  while 
strikes  and  dissatisfaction  were  now  unknown  in  the 
industrial  enterprises  of  the  country  controlled  by  the 
Kite  Trust. 

At  the  age  of  forty-four  the  members  of  the  Kite 
Trust  met  on  their  birthday  in  the  old  cellar  for  an- 
other consultation,  and  it  was  then  and  there  deter- 
mined to  annihilate  the  power  of  the  Transportation 


466  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

Trust;  and,  by  suggestion  of  Micky,  Ed  commenced  a 
newspaper  attack  that  ended  in  two  years  in  the  gen- 
eral government  taking  complete  control  of  and  own- 
ing for  itself  every  means  of  conveyance  excepting 
trolley  or  street  car  lines  owned  by  municipalities. 

The  newspaper  articles  first  showed  that  the  city  and 
town  ownership  of  its  street  railways  and  water-works 
produced  enough  net  revenue  to  pay  nearly  all  their 
expenses.  The  "  Auroral"  or  Light  and  Power 
Trust  for  a  nominal  sum  supplied  to  the  cities  and  vil- 
lages their  entire  needs  for  lighting,  cooking,  heating, 
and  other  purposes,  and  the  municipalities,  in  their 
turn,  charged  a  small  advanced  price  to  the  inhabi- 
tants, which  amounted  in  the  end  to  a  sufficient  sum  to 
meet  all  the  balance  of  the  city  budget,  with  a  surplus. 

"  Why  should  not  the  general  government,"  said 
the  newspaper  editorial,  "  in  a  like  manner  have  an  in- 
come from  something  that  was  permanent  to  pay  its 
expenses?  Why  should  the  great  'Transportation 
Trust'  bleed  the  country  to  pay  its  quarterly  gigantic 
dividends?"  and  so,  in  this  spirit,  from  day  to  day,  a 
sentiment  was  worked  up  in  the  newspapers  that 
caused  the  people  to  think,  and  the  railway  magnates 
to  meet  for  protection.  The  Transportation  Trust 
people,  to  protect  themselves,  could  not  start  news- 
papers of  their  own,  as  every  franchise  and  article 
necessary  for  such  production  was  controlled  by  the 
great  Kite  Trust.  So  it  made  propositions  to  the  gen- 
eral government  to  buy  it  out  at  the  market  price;  but 
the  newspapers  showed  that  three-fifths  of  the  assets 
of  the  Transportation  Trust  represented  "water,"  and 
that  its  holdings  were  only  worth  $10,000,000,000,  in- 
stead of  $25,000,000,000 — the  market  price. 

Arbitrators  were  appointed,  and  after  many  stormy 
scenes  $12,000,000,000  was  mutually,  willingly  agreed 
upon  as  the  price  to  be  paid  in  government  bonds 
bearing  i  1-12  per  cent,  interest,  the  bonds  to  be  free 


THE    PEOPLE.  467 

from  taxation  and  redeemed  in  any  amount,  at  any 
time,  at  the  pleasure  of  the  government. 

Then  the  newspapers  inaugurated  an  era  of  railroad 
excursions,  and  it  became  the  fad  to  make  all  manner 
of  tours.  The  ambition  of  almost  every  one  was  to  see 
the  entire  country.  For  five  years  patriotic  employes 
of  the  railroads  agreed  to  accept  minimum  salaries, 
and  rich  people  left,  by  their  wills,  vast  sums  of  money 
to  the  government  to  be  used  for  paying  the  national 
railway  debt;  and  in  five  years'  time  the  general  gov- 
ernment owned  it  all  and  reduced  the  fares  to  an 
amount  that  was  reasonable  and  yet  paid  every  em- 
ploye satisfactory  wages,  leaving  a  surplus  of  profit 
for  the  national  expenses. 

The  Kite  Trust  for  a  total  of  $20,000,000,000  in  i^ 
per  cent,  bonds,  of  its  own  free  will  sold  out  its  "  Auro- 
ral Trust"  interests  to  the  various  county  governments 
in  which  the  wells  were  located,  and  from  which  the 
said  county  governments  could  derive  their  income  for 
their  general  expenses;  and  thus  the  cities  and  town- 
ships, counties,  States  and  general  governments  had 
each  its  own  sources  of  revenue  from  some  form  of 
business  enterprise  without  resorting  to  the  old  style 
of  taxation. 

The  "  Standard  Hoyle,"  "  Liquor,"  "  Transporta- 
tion," and  "  Auroral  or  Light  and  Power"  trusts  were 
now  out  of  the  way,  leaving  the  Kite  Trust  with  only 
three  rivals — "  Farmers,"  "  Real  Estate,"  and 
"  Bankers." 

The  "  Transportation"  magnates  had  nowhere  to 
invest  their  $12,000,000,000,  so  the  newspapers  com- 
menced to  preach  philanthropy,  and  a  rivalry  sprang 
up  among  the  rich  for  all  kinds  of  benevolent  enter- 
prises. Magnificent  churches  weje  erected,  then  fol- 
lowed charitable  institutions,  then  libraries,  and  then 
every  county  competed  with  its  neighbor  for  great 
astronomical  observatories  with  powerful  telescopes, 


468  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

all  of  which  became  the  property  of  the  people.  Next 
came  universities,  and  then  model  hotels  for  the 
masses  until  the  owning  of  vast  sums  of  money  became 
unpopular  even  to  the  owners  themselves,  and  the  rail- 
road magnates  and  their  children  sought  employment 
instead  of  idleness,  and  business  was  never  better  in 
the  history  of  the  country.  Situations  waited  for  every 
one  in  the  nation,  and  emigration  was  restricted  to  a 
number  agreed  upon  year  by  year,  the  newcomers 
arriving  by  certificates  of  admission  applied  for  two 
years  in  advance. 

The  next  newspaper  attack  inspired  by  Micky  was 
made  on  the  "  Real  Estate"  Trust.  "  The  land  be- 
longs to  the  State"  became  the  national  cry,  and  every 
square  foot  of  land  in  the  nation  was  taken  possession 
of  in  the  name  of  the  people  and  at  a  price  satisfactory 
and  agreeable  to  the  owners.  The  land  (not  the  chat- 
tels) was  the  only  thing  purchased,  and  one  hundred 
year  bonds  given  in  payment  for  the  same,  bearing 
one  per  cent,  per  annum  interest  and  free  from  taxa- 
tion, and  at  least  one  per  cent,  of  the  bonds  were  to  be 
redeemed  annually  for  a  hundred  years.  Thus  the  en- 
tire surface  of  the  land  at  the  end  of  that  time  would 
belong  to  the  people;  but  by  an  era  of  great  pros- 
perity and  gifts  by  will  of  the  holders  the  bonds  were 
all  redeemed  by  the  nation  in  thirty-three  years. 

Houses  and  buildings  and  their  contents  were  ex- 
empted from  taxation  forever — they  remained  in  the 
possession  of  the  former  owners,  and  rich  people  re- 
ceived their  revenue  from  houses,  not  land,  and  a  small 
tax  per  front  foot  for  lots,  and  a  small  tax  per  acre  for 
farm  lands  was  levied — just  enough  for  the  state  gov- 
ernment expenses.  Thus  the  "  Real  Estate"  and 
"  Farmers"  trusts  were  eliminated  from  the  financial 
world,  leaving  the  Kite  Trust  with  only  one  more 
"  Richmond"  in  the  field — the  Banking  Trust. 

The  Presidential  election  was  now  approaching.  Ed 


THE    PEOPLE.  469 

Webster  had  become  famous.  The  newspapers  pro- 
claimed him.  He  was  nominated  and  elected  Presi- 
dent. 

The  issue  in  politics  was  one  of  finance,  and  the 
Banking  Trust  was  attacked.  The  government 
adopted  a  new  system  and  took  possession  of  the  entire 
banking  of  the  country.  Greenbacks  and  bank-notes 
were  all  called  in  and  destroyed;  gold  and  silver  (ex- 
cepting half  dollar  pieces  and  under)  were  stored  in 
the  national  vaults,  and  for  every  dollar  called  in  a 
credit  was  given  for  that  amount  on  the  ledger  of  the 
general  government.  Every  person  was  required  to 
draw  checks  to  pay  for  their  various  monthly  balances 
of  account  they  owed,  or  for  individual  transactions 
that  amounted  to  $i  and  over.  Every  post-office  be- 
came a  bank  or  depository,  and  revenue  stamps — one 
cent  on  all  checks  for  an  amount  over  $i — paid  all  the 
expenses  of  the  banking  department  of  the  nation. 
For  transfers  between  strangers  postal-money  orders 
payable  to  bearer,  in  any  sum  up  to  $1000,  were  issued 
for  a  ten-cent  stamp;  and  books  of  one  hundred  postal 
notes  of  various  denominations  were  sold  for  the  con- 
venience of  travellers  and  shoppers. 

The  banks  were  thus  wiped  out  of  existence.  The 
Kite  Trust  stood  triumphant  and  alone,  with  assets  of 
$90,000,000,000,  owning  every  manufacturing  and 
business  enterprise  and  mine  and  quarry  in  the  coun- 
try. It  was  the  only  enterprise  not  owned  by  the 
people  through  their  respective  city,  county,  State,  or 
national  government. 

Liquor  and  beer  had  been  annihilated,  and  as  a  con- 
sequence penitentiaries  and  jails  were  empty,  with  the 
exception  of  one  State  institution  for  isolated  cases  of 
crime,  freeing  the  people  from  vast  sums  formerly  re- 
quiring taxation.  In  the  same  manner  vast  sums 
were  saved  on  a  police  force  and  jailers.  Houses 
were  now  built  strictly  fire-proof,  and  no  expensive 


47°  THE    KITE   TRUST. 

fire  department  was  necessary.  There  were  very  few 
legal  disputes  between  merchants,  as  the  Kite  Trust 
had  no  quarrels  with  itself,  and  thus  expensive  court 
proceedings  and  the  majority  of  expensive  judges 
were  dispensed  with,  and  so  the  general  burdens  of 
the  people  became  reduced.  Honorable  men  gov- 
erned the  cities;  no  vestige  remained  of  the  former 
high-handed  "  bossism"  robbery  methods,  and  water- 
rents,  street  car  fares,  and  light  and  power  income  paid 
all  local  government  expenses. 

The  Standard  Hoyle  Trust  was  gone,  and  in  its 
stead  the  people  owned  the  Auroral  Wells,  a  never- 
failing  source  of  power  that  also  produced  light  and 
heat  for  industrial  purposes,  and  household  warmth. 
The  Transportation  Trust  was  merged  in  the  govern- 
ment, served  by  men  who  had  now  become  govern- 
ment employes  the  same  as  those  in  the  post-office  de- 
partment, and  represented  families  of  5,000,000 
people.  The  real  estate  was  absorbed  and  owned  by 
each  respective  State,  and  the  rich  owned  only  the 
houses  and  chattels  that  represented  accumulated 
labor,  and  every  one  was  ambitious  for  a  home. 

The  Newspaper  Trust  belonged  to  the  Kite  Trust 
and  was  working  for  the  interest  of  the  people.  The 
Banking  Trust  was  no  more.  Every  one  carried  his 
check-book  and  paid  for  goods  as  he  went  along,  and 
for  an  amount  equal  only  to  his  cash  balance 
— large  or  small — that  was  in  the  hands  of  the  govern- 
ment; and  the  government  bank  never  failed.  The 
farmers  were  now  numerically  the  largest  class  of 
people,  for  millions  of  idle  people  had  gone  back  to 
farming,  as  land  was  plentiful;  the  great  speculative 
holdings  of  former  days  had  been  given  up  by  the 
former  real  estate  owners,  for  they  chose  to  pay  the 
tax  per  acre  on  only  the  limited  amount  of  land  they 
could  use  themselves.  The  quick  means  of  transporta- 


THE    PEOPLE.  471 

tion  to  the  remotest  sections  made  farming  free  from 
isolation,  and  no  one  lived  in  a  city  who  could  con- 
veniently live  on  a  farm,  and  the  remotest  farm  was 
daily  reached  by  the  letter-carrier  system. 

Living  became  easier,  as  every  city,  home,  and  farm- 
house was  connected  with  the  Auroral  Wells,  and 
machinery  of  all  kinds  was  used  for  farm,  household, 
street,  and  field  drudgery. 

At  the  age  of  fifty-four  Mr.  Michael  Flynn  was 
elected  President  of  the  United  States,  and  on  his  in- 
augural day,  with  the  consent  of  his  partners,  he  pre- 
sented, in  their  names,  to  a  new  commercial  depart- 
ment of  the  government  the  entire  $100,000,000,000 
interest  of  the  Kite  Trust,  which  included  the  un- 
divided commercial  industries  of  the  country.  Every 
citizen,  from  the  greatest  to  the  least,  had  now  become 
an  employe  of  the  government  and  a  partner  in  his 
particular  industrial  connection.  His  interest  ceased 
at  his  death  and  fell  to  the  lot  of  others,  his  dependent 
ones  being  pensioned. 

During  the  Michael  Flynn  administration  the  Presi- 
dent directed  all  commercial  affairs  in  the  interests  of 
the  people,  and  by  act  of  Congress  a  soul  was  inserted 
into  each  and  every  corporation,  making  them  equally 
responsible  with  citizens  for  their  every  act. 

Thus  all  business  in  every  line  became  merged  in 
the  government,  and  promotion  was  by  merit,  and  no 
worthy  citizen  was  without  employment. 

Woman  suffrage  was  the  next  political  issue.  It 
was  successful,  and  Sally  was  elected  President — the 
first  woman  to  occupy  the  executive  chair  of  the 
United  States  of  America — and  during  her  adminis- 
tration she  devoted  herself  to  the  advancement  of 
womankind. 

A  great  congress  of  nations  had  declared  war  to  be 
no  more,  and  boards  of  arbitration  settled  interna- 


47-2  THE    KITE    TRUST. 

tional  disputes.  Thus  the  former  excessive  war  ex- 
penses were  eliminated  from  national  existence,  and 
that  great  burden  of  tax  was  saved  to  the  people. 

A  great  dress  reform  movement  was  ushered  in  dur- 
ing Sarah  Matilda  Flynn's  administration.  A  national 
and  distinct  costume  for  men  and  women  was 
adopted.  It  was  simple,  becoming,  and  pleasing  to  the 
nation.  Individual  tastes  as  to  adornment  and  colors 
were  optional  within  bounds,  and  comparatively  little 
money  was  spent  for  dress.  Every  person  was  pen- 
sioned for  cause.  Life  insurance  companies  thus  be- 
came extinct  and  their  former  excessive  financial  de- 
mands brought  to  an  end. 

Sam  discovered  the  process  for  making  the  purest 
diamonds  and  other  gems,  and  they  became  plentiful 
as  glass  beads,  and  ornaments  were  almost  without 
cost.  By  the  use  of  the  cheap  diamonds  Sam  was 
enabled  to  invent  and  construct  his  giant  boring 
machines,  fifteen  feet  in  diameter  and  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  long,  revolving  by  power  from  the  Au- 
roral Wells  at  the  rate  of  four  thousand  revolutions 
per  minute,  and  with  it  he  bored  great  pneumatic 
railway  tunnels  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco. 
They  followed  the  tide  level  in  a  straight  line  from 
ocean  to  ocean;  in  some  places  beneath  the  Rocky 
Mountains  they  were  three  miles  below  the  surface, 
and  along  their  entire  way,  every  five  miles  apart,  they 
were  reached  by  shafts  to  the  sunlight  and  world 
above.  They  carried  people  across  the  continent  in 
three  hours  and  thirty  minutes.  Other  such  tunnels 
were  built  at  the  rate  of  one  mile  per  day.  All  the 
people  of  the  nation  were  brought  so  close  together 
that  they  could  have,  within  a  few  hours,  personal 
communication  with  one  another.  Breakfast  in  New 
York  City,  lunch  in  Chicago,  and  dinner  in  San  Fran- 
cisco was  an  every-day  thing. 

Gold  and  silver,  in  money  or  bars,  were  of  little  use 


THE    PEOPLE.  473 

to  the  nation,  as  the  expenses  of  the  people  were  so 
slight  and  the  machinery  for  manufacturing  goods  so 
perfect,  that  our  products  were  sent  to  all  parts  of  the 
earth,  causing  the  balance  of  trade  to  be  in  our  favor. 
Free  trade  was  proclaimed,  and  the  surplus  gold  from 
balance  of  trade  coming  into  the  country  was  sent 
back  to  other  nations  to  help  them  to  the  new  and 
higher  ways  of  living,  resulting  in  many  of  those  for- 
eign lands  attaching  themselves  to  the  great  republic. 

Lawyers,  doctors,  and  all  professional  men  were 
now  employed  by  the  government  the  same  as 
teachers  were  in  the  public  schools.  No  one  had  to 
pay  for  professional  services  or  advice.  Every  one 
was  cared  for  by  the  government  as  a  family  was  for- 
merly cared  for  by  the  father,  and  the  people  had  at 
last  attained  as  a  divine  attachment  to  their  freedom 
the  additional  divine  right  to  a  participation  in  their 
rightful  share  of  the  earth's  prosperity. 

Four  hours  became  a  legal  day's  labor,  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  time  was  spent  in  the  channels  of  recreation 
and  education.  The  scramble  for  money  was  a  thing 
of  the  past,  and  was  accounted  as  vulgar  and  dis- 
graceful, and  a  new  thought-wave  spread  over  the 
land.  It  caught  the  fancy  and  admiration  of  the 
people,  that  character  is  the  divinest  possession — not 
wealth.  Worship,  amusement,  music,  education,  love 
of  the  sciences,  and  the  charm  of  farming  became  the 
dominating  passion  of  the  American  people;  and  "  no 
whiskey,"  "  no  beer,"  "  no  coffee,"  "  no  tea,"  "  no 
pastry,"  "  no  gold,"  "  no  silver,"  "  no  anarchy," 
"  no  finery,"  "  no  crime,"  "  no  landowners,"  and 
"  no  grinding  taxes"  became  the  intuitions  of  every 
man  who  prized  health  and  loved  the  name  of  Free- 
dom. Newspapers  published  only  the  noble  side  of 
life,  and  the  former  reports  of  filthy  scandals  and  all 
accounts  of  crime  and  sin,  and  court  proceedings  re- 
lating thereto,  were  published  only  in  the  official  law 


474  THE  KITE  TRUST. 

paper  of  each  county.  Only  one  thousand  copies  of 
each  were  printed  and  filed  in  public  libraries  for  legal 
reference. 

Fred  and  Sam  were  subsequently  elected  to  the 
Presidency,  and  as  each  retired  from  the  honorable 
position  he  went  back  to  plain  and  simple  living,  and 
in  after  years  the  various  members  of  the  great  Kite 
Trust  were  referred  to  as  examples  of  what  the  five 
richest  citizens  that  ever  lived  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
could  give  up  for  humanity. 

There  were  two  great  names  that  were  sacred  to 
Micky — Commodore  Vanclerbilt  and  Jay  Goujd.  They 
were  to  him  the  vanguard  of  the  modern  systems  of 
concentration.  They  had  both,  in  their  day,  been  de- 
nounced, but  their  most  uncompromising  traducers 
had  been  men  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  business — 
"  diamond  cut  diamond" — and  would  most  gladly 
have  done  to  Vanderbilt  and  Gould  what  they  in  their 
failure  so  bitterly  had  denounced.  To  the  first  efforts 
of  those  two  financial  giants  Micky  claimed  was  due 
the  modern  era  of  good  will  and  prosperity  to  all,  and 
at  his  personal  expense  he  erected  a  six  hundred  foot 
colossal  statue  to  each  of  them — one  on  each  side  of 
the  Narrows  approaching  New  York  Bay. 

Leap  year  contained  the  greatest  of  all  national 
days  of  rejoicing,  and  on  its  odd  day  was  the  opening 
exercises  of  the  American  Quadrennial  Exposition  of 
Commercial  Progress. 

The  event  of  the  entire  night  that  ushered  in  that 
twenty-ninth  day  of  February  was  a  glorification 
eagerly  looked  forward  to  by  the  people  of  the  entire 
Western  Hemisphere,  for  America,  both  north  and 
south,  with  its  many  and  distant  islands,  was  now  one 
vast  United  States  of  America. 

Upon  that  memorable  birthday  night  of  the  entire 
membership  of  the  Kite  Trust,  the  power  from  the 
gigantic  magnetic  currents  of  the  Auroral  Wells 


THE    PEOPLE.  475 

was  diverted  from  industrial  uses,  and  concentrated 
into  a  vast,  man-made  aurora  bbrealis  that  spread 
across  the  entire  continent,  and  from  the  tops  of  the 
lofty  Auroral-Eiffel-Towers  was  this  heavenly  display 
directed. 

Wide  brilliant  bands  and  glittering  hanging  cur- 
tains of  glorious,  chameleon-like  auroral  tintings, 
stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  oceans, 
following  one  another  in  rapid  succession,  were  made 
to  roll  on  and  on  from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  the  south- 
ern cliffs  of  Patagonia,  and  when  the  memorable 
birthday  hour  of  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  arrived, 
the  scintillating  tintings  were  changed  into  great, 
broad,  ocean-like  waves  of  red,  ever  alternating  with 
the  massive  broad  bands  of  white,  fleecy,  floating 
clouds;  and  between  the  mighty  rifts  the  deep  blue 
field  of  heaven  displayed  itself,  and  many  distant  suns 
of  the  first  magnitude  gazed  down  upon  our  world 
and  made  the  whole  arch  of  heaven  one  glorious,  glit- 
tering, waving,  star-spangled-banner  for  freedom's 
admiring  hosts. 

Micky  was  the  first  one  to  pass  to  his  everlasting 
rest,  and  the  others  of  the  little  former  Bucktown  cel- 
lar syndicate  agreed  that  only  one  monument  should 
stand  for  them  all,  which  was  a  tall  granite  ashlar  shaft 
erected  in  Cincinnati  by  its  citizens  on  the  southwest 
corner  of  Brighton  Hill,  that  had  been  transformed 
into  a  beautiful  botanical  garden,  and  on  the  shaft 
were  but  two  significant  words : 

MICKY  FLYNN. 


THE  END. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE'on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


UMIBL 
1? 

2  6  1990 


Form  L9-Series  4939 


